I'm Still Here!

Its been a little while since I “blogged” but I’m still here. I’ve been taking a small break to get my relationship with God strong and to talk to people and God about my future. The situation as it is now is that me and God are strong and I am (trying to) serve God in all that I do, of course I fail but with every set back I try that much harder to succeed! Its awesome.

I’m going to pick up on what I left off in a couple of Days and continue my near daily blog, and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued prayers and for your continued support in the last few months. Its been so amazing seeing God answer my prayers and that is no coincidence that people from 5 continents were praying for me and I thank you all so much for that.

God answers prayers and hears us.

1 Jn 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

We can take great confort in that and want to encourage you to cast all of your cares upon him.

Thank you again, and hope I can continue to strengthen and encourage you.

In Christ,

Mikey.

Further Prayer Request!

Hey everyone, just a quick note to ask for some prayer. I had a meeting with one of my company directors and he said (with not so many words admittedly) that I've either got to commit to the company or stop wasting their time. I know that God is calling me elsewhere, but I am not sure if this is the opportunity that I've been asking for or not. I do not want people to think that I am giving up and just going but at the same time, i do not want to go against God's perfect plan.

I have a lot fear about what the implications would be if I left, for example there are still bills that need to be paid and there are still commitments financially that I need to fulfill. There is also the question of Brazil in October to think about.

Please pray that I will know God's plan for me and what the right path is for me to take and where he wants me to be. I know that he will not steer me wrong, but I don't want to make the wrong decision based on my own human thoughts and feelings which are of course fallible.

I'd appreciate knowing that you are praying with me through this time. I love God and I will go anywhere he wants me to be but I need to know God's will in this time of uncertainty.

Thanks again for your support!

Mikey

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.
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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

Matthew 3 - Part 1 - Living Trees

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a really awesome speaker, I have, some of my most memorable sermons were the ones where I was transfixed from the moment they opened their mouths to the last Amen! Some times I’ve listened and I’ve been like “yeah, this guy is striking a chord in my heart” and its those speakers who I feel have real authority from God.

Imagine the scene, you’re sitting on the side of the river, probably eating your bread that was made at home, it’s a hot day and you’re dipping your toes in the water to cool off. Along comes a crowd of people following a guy wearing camel hair clothes and a leather belt, eating some locus and honey. I bet you’d be thinking, “I’m going to be killed by a crazy man here…”. They guy stops and turns to the crowd and says the following;

Matthew 3 v 7 - "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

If we didn’t know it was John the Baptist, I can imagine myself at least thinking, “eh?”. But if we actually take apart what he’s saying here, we suddenly realize this is a very real and very scary warning which John gives. The first part for example talks about coming wrath! I know that there are people on the street corners talking about the end of the world and its coming soon etc, but John spoke with authority and power. "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” I’d be scared!

John then goes on to speak about something which some Christians are guilty of and in some respects, all of us are guilty of. The right to do what you want because you are a Christian, well I say to you, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham”. You have no divine right on this world because you are a Christian (or in this instance Jewish of Abraham descendants). You can’t just expect to say that you love God and that you follow Jesus and do nothing! It defeats the object and is a grave contradiction in terms. Christian = Like Christ, did Christ do nothing? Of course not he gave his life so that we might live.

If that wasn’t enough to make these people want to dive in there and get baptized, john drives the point home. “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Hang on? What did he just say? We need to produce fruit? What does that mean? Well its simple, when you become a Christian, you are sewn into the ground, you spring forth and its only by your fruits that you are shown how strong you actually are.

John is saying here something that I would want you to take with you. If we do nothing for Christ, if we produce no fruit for God, we are dead plants, only fit to be cut down and thrown into the fire. Take encouragement, and warning from this passage. Be not only “sayers” but “doers”, I’ve said before that there are Christians who acknowledge Christ with their lips and deny him with their lifestyle. Do not be dead tree’s, be fruitful and healthy trees. But also, remember that God recognizes those fruits and rewards us for it. If we are working for God, and laying all our problems and cares upon him, we can be strong. Its not by our own strength that we carry on being Christians day by day. With attacks from the enemy, with temptations, but it is by our faithful God that we can do this.

In Christ Alone.

Mikey.

John 16:32 - Trying to Hide?

Where to start really. I’ve been struggling of late with my own conscience and with my own walk because of 2 main factors really. Sin and also the most important factor – myself. I’ve been worrying so much about what God thinks of me I’ve been scared to do anything for him in case for some strange reason I do it wrong or I offend him by what I think or say. Because of that I’ve been doing to opposite, pretty much nothing in God’s name and I could feel myself drifting away from Him which is really horrible.

It wasn’t until very recently that I realised that I’d not properly prayed or properly read his word and found all manner of excuses not to do this blog because I felt wrong doing it. But here I am, how did I get to this point from there you may ask, well that brings me to the scripture of which I wish to turn to today.

John 16:32 "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

Firstly I know this isn’t Matthew, but this really meant something to me over the last few weeks really. It both scares me and feels me with Joy. Firstly, the reason it scares me witless is the last sentence about never being alone and always having God watching me. I do things and say things and also think things that I would feel ashamed if anyone else knew what they were and it’s the same fore EVERY person, anyone who says otherwise either is in denial, or very lost.

As Christians we know that God is there through all that we do and he knows all. That includes what we say, what we do and the most scary part is what we think. Personally, there are times when I think ‘ah, who’d know’ Its just me here… but then remembering that God is there always makes me so afraid and I will try and hide from God. Remember in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to hide from their God.

Think about it, how ridiculous that we could think of anywhere that God doesn’t see us! And for this reason also, I am filled with Joy and peace that I have a God that doesn’t sleep and watches over me wherever and whenever I am. Its scary to think that God knows us properly, he knows us better than we know ourselves and yet, through all that, he loves us and forgives us. How amazing is that? We are the wretched humans that sin every day, yet God sent Jesus to save us.

I don’t know about you, but that means more to me that anything. And for that reason, I prayed last night, for forgiveness for peace and for him to guide me. I felt the strength to be able to come here and share this with you as a encouragement to all of you that we are being watched yes, but we are also being watched in love and forgiveness.

Thank you so much for all your patience over the past few weeks. Thank you for your prayers, I guess I just needed to pray also.

In Christ.

Mikey.

In contrast... Great Joy and Praise!

I know that a lot of you prayed for me last week and I think you so much for your prayers, they were needed and nessasry and because of those prayers I have been strengthened beyond all measure.


Yesterday Nell and I recieved a letter from the inland revenue with a cheque for quite a considerable amount of money and I just want to shout from the roof tops my praise and thanks for God's provision.

I am going to get back on track with Matthew, hopefully tomorrow but today, I'm going to just smile and thank God for everything that he has done for me. Praise be to the almighty.

In christ alone.

Mikey.

Real Prayer Needed...

As i'm sure you regulars would have noted already, i've not blogged for about a week now. Its not because I've been to busy and it isn't because I can't be bothered, I am going through a spiritual and physical battle at the moment. I have felt like I'm reading the bible but the words aren't sticking, that when I pray, it feels like I'm mumbling about anything just to be heard at the moment. In short, i'm really struggling.

I would value your prayers at the moment, I would value you taking the time to lift me to the Lord and ask him to refresh me. Its the 15th March today, and I feel like I don't know what has happened between the beginning of the year and now. Its all been a whirlwind and I feel that I am too stuck in the routine of life. I've had 1 day's holiday this year, and I feel jaded, confused and a little bit alone.

I've read the whole of my blog over and over, and i've read countless passages of scripture and I feel like nothing is staying in my brain and it is all just words. I need some refreshment both in my spiritual life and also, in my physical life, but I can't see where that is going to come from.

I am working twice as hard as I should at work, and feeling trapped because the harder I work, the less likely I am to take time off because I don't want to loose track of my work.

Just pray that God gives me the strength to pick myself up, and that I am given the opportunity to be refreshed.

Thank you all so much for your love and support. It means so much to me.

Mikey.

Matthew 2 part 1 - Feeling Threatened?

It’s a proven fact that people are scared of what they do not know. I’ve already said here that I’m scared of storms because I have absolutely no control over what happens to me in these situations. But as Christians, people can persecute us because they are scared about what they do not know about. They have a perception of Christians that we all wear sandals, have beards and carry around a bit print bible around with us telling everyone they are sinners.

When Jesus was born, there were people who knew the scriptures and there were people who knew that a messiah for the Jews was going to present itself at some point, but there were people who had heard of Jesus and what had been said about him even when he had just been born and were afraid of the implications. One of which, and most famously was Herod.

Matthew 2: When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.

Herod was obviously a smart bloke, he knew about the old testament teaching (although they were the teachings, and not called the old testament at the time) and he knew that someone was going to come one day to free the Jews, and more importantly the whole world, but the one thing that he was most scared about was loosing his crown as Jesus was going to be the “King of the Jews” and for a King that was the worst thing that could happen because he would have to leave his lavish lifestyle.

There are people around today that are scared of the same thing, but not in exactly the same way, they are scared of loosing their lifestyles because they know that it goes against God. As I’m sure a lot of you already know, its easier to follow the devil who promises so much but never delivers, then it is to follow God who promises very little but very important promises and delivers every time.

I know myself that one of the biggest things that was holding me back from coming back to God was that I was happy, superficially but I was happy. I had many things, I used to enjoy the world and all that it had to offer, and I was scared of loosing those things to follow some guy who lived 2000 years ago. The things which I have gained from following Christ has been better than what the world has to offer a million times over.

As Christians we get tempted and we get swayed into thinking that Jesus some how threatens our happiness because his teachings are against what the world offers, but we need to remember how much we have gained from having a life with God and having a walking relationship with Jesus, and how can we justify throwing all that away to go back to what the world offers? We can’t.

God really doesn’t want us to be governed by masses of rules and streams of regulations, we can be so much happier knowing that we are working for the true and living God, and that our ultimate gain is that not of superficial happiness but of eternal forgiveness and a everlasting life with God. How amazing is that? We shouldn’t feel threatened by God because as a father, he wants the best for us and the things that the world offers are not always the best for us at that time. We need to trust in God’s provision as well as his plan.

I pray that we do not feel that we are missing out because we don’t have enough of the world’s offerings, but we feel that we are being filled up with Jesus and his offerings, which are immeasurable and everlasting.

In Christ I stand.

Mikey.