Proverbs 3 v 5 - Trust is a two way street...

Firstly, I would like to thank a good friend of mine, Neil, for providing me with the leg up and the boost that I required to write this today. I’ve been beaten with the wind and the rain that I spoke about yesterday, and in testament to that I’ve stood strong in the face of it all. I’ve been struggling with my own work situation and not feeling settled there. Ever since I have come back to Christ, my work has been seen to be immoral to a point and the pressures that are involved are not the pressures that I would want as a Christian.

I have been searching for a way out and been getting myself more and more stressed with the situation. Coupled with the situation that is still manifesting with regards to Brazil, there is a lot more pressure that I could really cope with for a time. Neil very kindly provided me with the following;

Proverbs 3v5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

Ok, so you may be asking yourself, how has that helped Mike? Well lets actually look at the situations which I’m being faced with and the stress that is on me. This is my own doing in some respects as because we are Christians, we should trust in the lord with all of our heart and we should not worry. I had to read back over my own words to drive the point home about this.

Trust in the lord with all our heart, how many of us can actually say that we do this? How many of us are faced with situations where we do not get worried or stressed about them? And ultimately, how many of us fail to trust him at all.

“and lean not on your own understanding”, we can interpret this in the bible saying that we shouldn’t trust our own understanding about situations or indeed even the world as we have no need to understand why God does things, he has never steered us wrongly he has never failed us, we have only failed ourselves by understanding situations and reading them for what they seem to be and not for what is planned.

Again I ask you, how many times have you had the instinct to do something yet God was pulling you in another direction and in order to stop you from following your own intuition, has put barriers to stop you from doing what is against his will? I know I have, I know I have recognized the barriers and just driven straight through them.

When we want something so badly, or when we think something is the best thing for us, we can become blinded to God’s will and to God’s plan and think we are doing God’s will by pushing against his barriers. It is important to remember that God does things for a reason, not just to stop you having fun or to stop you from doing what you want, he does it for our own protection.

So if you feel that your plans are not coming to fruition, you’ve got to pray. Pray that you know God’s will, pray that he will lead you to where he wants you to be, either in your work or home life.

Trusting in God once again,

Mikey.

Matthew 7: 24 -27 Foundations.

Following a very good and fruitful weekend, I’ve come back to work this morning and its easy to forget what I have learned and what I have seen because of being within an environment that doesn’t work for God. The basis of my life and my thoughts should be deeply rooted in God’s word and what I have learned so that when difficult times come my way I stand fast in the face of the winds and storms of the world. When I think about this, I think of one of the more famous parables that Jesus taught.

Matthew 7:24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Through all things God provides a foundation of rock for us to build our lives on. When we do things in the name of God and we focus on building our lives on his sure and stable ground, we are protected from the rains and the floods.

There are very many layers to this parable and many things that you can take from it. But today, I am going to draw from the location of where we build our lives, and give a warning to Christians and non Christians alike.

There are Christians who will build their lives for God and can build a huge tower but not really build it in the right context of frame of mind without the intention of glorifying God. This can be construed as building your life in the sand. If the things that you do are not fully and whole heartedly in his name, you have no base, and you have no foundation. Its true to say that your faith is tested fully when you are faced with difficulties and faced with the rain that will beat down. And without the foundation of God in your life, your construction that you have built will collapse and fall and will become nothing.

Therefore, be sure that with all that you do and all that you build in your own life in God’s name, it is built solidly on God’s foundation on the rocks. It is obvious that building on rocks can take a lot longer but these constructions will last longer and when the rain of life’s trouble comes along, you are strong and steadfast in God’s foundations.

With this in mind, I pray that God’s work is always done with the foundation that God has given to us and commissioned us to do. His plan is unchanging and is perfect, and we should remember that it has been written that being a Christian is not the easy option, the easiest option is to build your life up quickly with the foundation of sand, but we should strive to make every effort to make sure the basis of all our works are strong.

The decisions that we are making at the moment, and the ideas that we are making need to be assessed to make sure they are being done for the right reasons and with God’s foundation for our lives.

I cannot stress enough to Christians that troubles and life’s “Rain” WILL come your way, as a Christian we are in the direct firing line of Satan and you will be tested, as long as your foundations of your life are in God, you cannot be shaken, be sure that you make every effort to make each decision prayerfully and with God at the forefront of your mind, he will give you the direction, however difficult it may seem.

I pray then today that whatever comes your way, you are doing all things in God’s name, and that all the decisions you make are with God as a partner in these.

In his most precious Grace,

Mikey.

1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - Encourangement

As in contrast with yesterday’s desperation that I was feeling toward what I was doing and where I was going and feeling disillusioned, so today, in God’s grace, I feel the exact opposite. I feel encouraged by the spirit and I feel confidence in God’s unfailing plan and that whatever is thrown my way it is within his will.

I had all my work checked by my boss this morning. He sat with me for a couple of hours going through all my outstanding work and asking me what position I was in. Its strange, when this has happened before I thought he was picking on me to make me look stupid or just to pick holes in my work, but in fact it is quite the opposite. He was encouraging me and helping me with any problems. We as Christians should do the same thing, take this scripture for example –

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Quite explicit really, its states that we are to encourage one another in what we are doing and we are to almost assess each other’s situation to be able to give advice based on our own experiences. The bible is literally full of encouragements. In fact 59 references are “Encourage” its self.

Being a Christian can seem lonely sometimes and can definitely feel like its you against the rest of the world which is why it is so important to go to a church, not only to hear God’s word preached, but also to be around other Christians and be encouraged with your walk. We should never assume that we will be fine. When we are alone is when we’re easy pickings for Satan to pick us off.

How often has your conversation gone as follows – “Hi (insert your name), how are you?”, you reply almost instinctively “I’m fine thank you how are you”, they reply “fine thank you…” and the conversation continues about football or computer games (well my conversations do). We should not be afraid to answer, “not so good, I am struggling”. Its one of the fantastic parts of being a Christian and belonging to a Christian community being able to talk to other Christians about God.

Similarly, we shouldn’t just assume that when someone tells us they are fine, we take it as red and carry on. As well as asking for help, we should also be offering that help, whether that be practical help or spiritual encouragement, as Christians, we have a duty to each other to make sure we are being prayed for, that if someone is struggling, they are helped.

I cannot stress enough the importance of being caring towards each other. I know from experience that an unexpected email when you are feeling low with some words of encouragement works absolute wonders in confidence!

I pray that you are being encouraged and that you are giving encouragement in abundance. Take time think about someone you know is struggling and send them an SMS or an email or call them just to let them know they are being prayed for and ask if they need any encouragement or help.

Encouraged by God’s Holy Graces,

Mikey.

2 Samuel 22 v 3 - Refuge.

I am struggling today. I’m not above admitting when I am feeling distressed and helpless in my life and I am not above asking for help from God for help and deliverance from problems that I am facing. There are people in my job that I feel Satan is using to make me feel disillusioned and lost and feel that God is very far away from me and certain situations such as these have manifested in different ways today.

I had planned on writing about God’s love for the world and how we should do his work as evangelists, but I prayed about what to write about today and I was drawn to the following verse.

2 Samuel 22: 3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my saviour—
from violent men you save me.

When I read this the first time I thought about God being there for me and it really warmed my heart to think that all I need do is pray and he hears me, but the more I read it over and over, it struck me, that as well as God being there for me, he is also actively protecting me and helping me, even before I pray to him.

I felt my disillusionment disappear and I just broke down and prayed that I continue to do his will and that the things that are standing in my way will be broken down in accordance to his will.

As Christians we are taught to face adversity and meet it head on because we have a God that protects us and will deliver us from all evil, but sometimes, in our human frailty and in our weakness we have times when we feel like the way that I felt this morning, and God not only provides protection, but also he provides a refuge and a stronghold to retreat to and regroup our thoughts and strengths.

It is not weakness to seek God’s help when we are struggling, in fact I would go as far as to say there is strength in that because we will be acknowledging out own inability to things our way and alone, but that we are trusting in God to do things that may seem impossible. Instead of feeling that Satan is in our way, we should be thinking, God is infinitely more powerful that anything Satan can throw in our way and we should take blessing from all situations.

God cares for us. He is watching over us and he is providing strength and protection to those who ask of it, but also, he provides a safe place to go and get our thoughts and feelings together without having fear of being attacked.

I pray today that God provides you with your strength and your protection to do all things in his name and to actively work to do His unchanging will.

To God be the glory, the power, and the wisdom.

Mikey.

Hebrews 7 v 27 - Giving God everything

As I’m sure you are mostly aware, today is the first day of lent for some Christian denominations, where some Christians either take up or sacrifice something within their own lives to honour the sacrifice that God gave by giving up his only son as a sacrifice for all of our sins. I don’t know if any of you have given something up, whether it be chocolate or something more significant, but lets actually look at that sacrifice for a couple of moments. The scripture has many references to different sacrifices but today I’m going to look at the following:

Hebrews 7:27.

27Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

This particular passage really does drive home the point and the amazing gift of life that God has given to us through the death of Jesus. How many of us would actually give up our lives just for one person. Its interesting when you look at songs and poems that non Christians write when they talk about dying for someone, but when the rubber hits the road, how many of these people would give their life for someone.

Lets think about that for a second, they offer their lives to someone they either love or know very well, can you imagine if they did something wrong against the writer, they wouldn’t want to die for them. However Jesus died for everyone, even people that hadn’t even been born at the time and for the billions of people who have ever lived, he gave his own life as a sacrifice to all people without fear or question to enable these people to receive redemption from the wrongs that have been done against him.

As Christians we are taught to be like Christ and live as he lived and strive to do the things that he has done. I don’t know about you but I’ve failed every day in this, I’ve sinned against God and I’ve been foolish with my decisions. Yet everyday I pray that God take my life, my whole life and all that I have to offer and use it in His will, I am effectively sacrificing my old life and asking God to use my new life for what he wants from me.

There is a paradox that Christians live with and that’s when we know God’s forgiveness and worth, yet feeling inadequate and worthless as humans before him. We need to give everything we have, even if we don’t think that is very much to God and do his will and we will be blessed in life and when we stand before God and we are told, “Enter, good and faithful servant”.

I don’t know about you but actually thinking about that makes me want to give more than I have to God who blesses us for our sacrifices of faith to him. So today, if you are giving up something for lent, think about your sacrifice and think, am I giving all that I am as a sacrifice as Jesus gave up everything to save you.

I pray that God will use your life and will make your sacrifice a act of faith and trust to God’s unfailing love and forgiveness.

By Jesus’ death I am saved.

Mikey.

Psalm 23 - God provides a way

The theme of my life at the moment has been to trust God in all that I do, there are many uncertainties in my life and a lot of things that seem to be impossible. There is potential to get stressed and upset about things that are beyond my control or beyond my understanding. I was talking last night with a close friend about miracles that have happened in each other’s lives and situations that have from a worldly sense seemed to be impossible.

I thought about that quite a lot last night, and as I got into bed, I read the following.

Psalm 23.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness,
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

It is obviously one of the most famous Psalms that are in the bible, and there is no coincidence with that and this passage bringing peace to Christians across the globe.

As I spoke about yesterday with Jesus calming the storms in our lives and in our situations, this passage is also speaking to us about peace and about restoring our faith and confidence in God’s providence and God’s gifts to us.

It teaches that if we trust in Christ and trust in his unfailing faithfulness with our lives we will not want for anything but be lead by him to the places in the world where he wants us to be and where he can provide for us adequately. It talks of Christ leading us along path’s of righteousness, although these paths may lead us through bad times and bad places, (Valley of the shadow of death) we have no need to fear as long as we are following his path.

There is something extremely special for Christians to remember and only really as a Christian will you feel this, when God provides for you, you can see his hand in your life and see him providing for you the correct path.

With our situation, it seems like we’re staring up a mountain but the more I pray about it, the more I can see the path that is on the mountain winding up to the top where God wants us to be. It suddenly doesn’t become a question of how to climb the mountain, but where do I need to start to start the climb.

A wonderful analogy of this is when Moses had lead God’s people out of Egypt and was faced with a wide and unswimable sea. Moses doesn’t give up and actually parts the sea to get across. That is a wonderful act of faith that we should all aspire to, if he can part seas and calm storms, suddenly our problems seem less like mountains, but flat roads with God’s help.

Continue to pray for Nell and I as we embark on our journey to get to where we need to be. Pray that this is God’s will, and if it isn’t, this will be made apparent to us.

I pray that the mountains in your life are changed to flat roads with God’s help and his Grace and mercy be upon you all.

In Christ.

Mikey.

Matthew 8 v 24-26 - Storm? What Storm?

I don’t like storms because one of the scariest attributes about being in a storm is the feeling of not being in control and having to submit to the elements whilst you try and keep yourself safe. I don’t know about you but I respect the awesome power of nature, and when I’m in the middle of a storm, I am afraid to go outside and tend to shut myself in and close the elements outside.

This is no different when we look at our lives and as Christians feel that we are in the middle of a spiritual storm. The bible says this;

Matthew 8:24 Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"
26He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

This passage makes me think “wow, he has authority above those things which we cannot control”, and you might think, well duh, isn’t that the fundamental part of being a Christian, trusting that God controls all things, and you’re right, but when do we actually believe it?

We are all given situations when we feel like we are being buffeted around by the wind and waves of the world, whether that be with temptations, things that are said to us or just feeling lost. Its easy for us to panic and start thinking about giving up. Take a look at the disciples, the men that were actually there with Christ on the boat, and they actually woke Jesus who knew he was in full control of all things that he was sleeping and the disciples with panicked voices asked for Him to save them.

Jesus’ response is something that I remember in time of problems and when I feel like I’m going to drown, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” this statement comes to mind every time I’m feeling like that, almost like Jesus speaking to me, asking why I’m running around like a headless chicken when I’m despairing about things.

Why then do we fear when we are in the middle of a raging storm in our lives, why do we shout and panic that all is lost and we’re going to drown. We should remember Jesus’ words here and just trust that storms are temporary and can be calmed in an instant through God and we can become completely calm with situations.

God knows our every trouble and our every problem, and he watches over us when we feel we are in trouble and we should trust that God that he will help us. Cast your cares upon and everything seems brighter and lighter.

I pray today that if you are experiencing any spiritual storms that God will grant you peace and a sense of his hand upon you calming the waves and the wind and making the day bright again.

In Christ alone.

Mikey.