Wannabe Christian Doorman

Who wouldn’t want to avoid mistakes if they could?
But unfortunately, mistakes are a part of life. Even Samuel in the Bible made his mistakes. One of them can be seen in…

1 Samuel 8:1-5
¹ When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. ² The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. ⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

Now Samuel was a man who God approved of, there are two books in the Bible named after him.
But in the instance above, I believe, Samuel made a mistake. He appointed his sons to take over his ministry, even though they didn’t follow his ways.
The result of this action, ultimately, is that Saul was appointed king over Israel.
Although there have been good kings, there have also been some not so good kings (that caused a problem or two.)
Could these problems have been avoided if Israel didn’t have a king? If Israel didn’t have a King, then would Elijah and Elisha have been Israel’s leaders in their time, instead of prophets, that the King may, or may not listen to???

It’s easy to understand why Samuel did what he did.
He was getting old and was looking for a successor. The natural choice was his sons.
But they were not like him, which made it not such a good choice.
Was there some part in Samuel that knew this, but he did it all the same?

Can we sometimes make the mistake that Samuel made by taking the natural choice without consulting God?

What would God’s thought on succession be?

In Judges 8:22-23 we can see Gideon’s response when he is asked to rule over Israel.

Judges 8:22-23
²² The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”

²³ But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.”

Is this something of the heart of God?
It should be God we look to first instead of man.
A previous post of, When we go to church are we looking for Saul or Father? looks into this thought further.

So, can we learn from Samuel’s mistake?

If the natural choice has a niggle with us, will we still go ahead and do it, or can we look for a better fit?
Can we hear what our Father in Heaven’s choice would be, instead of the obvious choice?
Can we see and hear His choice, before we go and make a mistake?

Father,
Please help us to keep looking to You, for Your help and guidance.
If something is niggling at us then help us to come You, Our Lord God who knows what is best.
Help us to always hear and follow Your words to us.
Amen.

A bit of a strange question to find on a blog site called, “Wannabe Christian Doorman”, but there it is. 🙂

Just to be sure, that you do know my position, on the question, ……
I KNOW, that God IS REAL!!!

So why would ask such a question?
One of the objections that I hear towards God is, “If God is so big, powerful and loving, then how can he allow …… to happen?”

The “……” can be anything, from personal circumstances, to world wide troubles. The list can be endless.

So, the question is put forward, “If God is so big, powerful and loving, then how can he allow …… to happen?”

Whenever I hear this kind of question, I always think that this is actually two questions rolled into one.
The first part of the question is, “Is God real?
The second part of the question is, “How can God then allow …… to happen?”
Which can then lead to a third question of, “Do I want to know him, when he allows …… to happen?”

I do think that all of the questions are valid, but that they should be looked into, as separate questions.

The main reason for this is, if the answer to the first question is “no”, then the second and third question’s, do not even need to be answered.
How can you ask a make believe God, why anything has happened?
Why would you want to know a make believe god?
Why would you want to even consider knowing a make believe god?
I’m hoping that you can see why answering the first question, just kind of makes sense?

So, back to the title of this post, “Is God Real???”

For so many people, the answer to this question, is a personal belief. “You can believe what you want to believe, and I can believe the exact opposite, and we’ll all be perfectly OK where we are!”
That statement can appear to be a good position, viewpoint in the here and now. But if we take a longer viewpoint, then will it even appear to be a true and correct statement to make?
I would love to answer/validate why I think this. But I also think that, to do so would be a distraction from the main question.

I have often found that, when trying to answer the main question, I can be bombarded with, other questions of… “And what about this, and what about that, and what about this, and what about …..”

This is why I will try to keep my distractions to a minimum, and try to offer some evidence, as to why I believe that, God, is in fact, very much so Real.

My first piece of evidence that I would like to bring is, “Mankind, has a creative spark, that is not seen anywhere else in the animal kingdom.”

In my mind, this is just an undeniable fact. Mankind can do so much more than any other kind of animal.
I know that animals can do great things, but it is, to my thinking, that they have been given these abilities, in order to live in the environment that they live in. (Please, understand that this only the short version of the argument.)
Mankind, just does that much more than any other animal.
There are very few places where mankind is unable to go. Places where we shouldn’t even be able to live. We have been to the depths of the ocean, to the top of the world. We have even set foot on the moon! A place so baron and devoid of life, that without the technology we have created, it would kill us in an instant. Mankind is different.
The device you are reading this on (unless you have a printed copy) is an item that mankind has created from materials dug out of the earth.
The electricity that mankind has harnessed to power the said device.
The computing power that runs the device you are using.
The achievements of mankind are just staggering, if you just stop, and take a look at them.
How is it that mankind can be so creative, and do all that it has done?

My answer to this is, we are made in the image of God.

Genesis 1:27
²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

God is the Ultimate Creator (yes I know, some will say this is just my belief).
As we are created in God’s image, we also have a creative spark in us.
This to my mind, is why we are able to do all that we can do. This is why mankind is so different to the rest of the animal kingdom.

There is so much more I could write about this one alone, but I’ll try to stop there, and just ask, “Why is it, that mankind is so different to the rest of the animal kingdom?”
Do you have a different thought as to why why man is so different, that holds up better than, “It’s because we are made in the image of God”?

The second piece of evidence that I would like to present is, the world, and all creation itself. (You may have heard this one before.)
There is a balance at work in the world, that is just amazing. One entity’s waste product, is another entity’s life force.
We, as part of the animal kingdom, breath out carbon dioxide, which plants then take, and through photosynthesis then give back as oxygen. Which we, the animal kingdom need, to live.
Ones waste product is another’s life force!
This happens time and time again, when you just look into the natural world. To me, this just screams out that a creator, has made it this way, so that there is a balance, so that life itself, can exist.

Romans 1:19-20
¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

The third piece of evidence that I’m going to present today is, “Jesus Christ, The Lord God Almighty, incarnate as a man, who was killed on a cross, and then raised to life, three days later.”
I know, some would say that this should be the first piece of evidence, but I’m going with save the best for last.

If Jesus could be discredited, then it would have happened by now. Many people have tried, and failed to do so.
Lee Strobel is one such man. Lee Strobel was a devout atheist who became very unhappy when his wife became a Christian. (To put it mildly.) As an investigative journalist, he then set out to disprove Christianity, by disproving the resurrection.
Short version, he became a Christian. His testimony can be read in the book, “The Case For Christ”. If you don’t like reading, then you can watch it, it’s been made into a film.
To me, it’s one of those really good films based on real life. The evidence for Jesus being killed on the cross, and then being raised to life, three days later, is just staggering. If you will just look at it.

So there we have it, three pieces of evidence that, in my mind, declare that God, is in fact, very much so real.
There are many more proofs, also declaring that this is so.

But the question remains, “Will you acknowledge whether God is real, or not?”
I’m not asking you to ask God into your life at this point (but it’s going to follow on, very soon).

The question of “Is God real?”, is a question that, I feel, should be answered with an informed view, rather than the, “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” answers.

I do strangely think that an answer of “No, because …..” is a better answer than an answer of, “I don’t know” or “I don’t care.”
I will disagree with your answer of “No”, if that is your answer, but I will respect the fact, that you have a definitive answer, whilst debating the issue. (If I have the opportunity and permission to do so. 🙂 )
But I do understand and appreciate that you can disagree with my point of view, (beliefs). It’s called freedom of will, which we all have.

I’m starting to think that this could be one of those posts that I could try to write an entire book on, but I do think that now would be a good time to try and wrap things up. 🙂

I will try to finish by stating what I started with.
I Do believe that God is Very much so Real!
The evidence for this is just so overwhelming, that I can’t see there being any other possible option.

And now is the bit, that I told you was coming.
God is real. And He would Love to get to know you!
All you need to do, is to ask Him into your life.
The starting point could be to just ask, “If you really are real. God, then help me to see this. Help me to let You in.”
If you ask for His help, then He will be able lead and guide you on your journey.

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Posts with an Outreach feel

I woke up with a movie scene playing through my mind this morning. It’s from A Monster Calls.

It’s the scene were the boy destroys his grandmothers living room.

Before you are too hard on the boy, you need to understand his situation. His Mum is dieing from cancer, and he’s not dealing with it, in any way, other than badly. Him trashing his grandmother’s room, is an outworking of his not coping. In the movie, when the grandmother enters, the boy’s face is a picture of regret, fear and sorrow.

The scene that played out in my mind was slightly different.
The boy just ran away, leaving his grandmother with the mess. She then purposely left it alone.
A friend of the grandmother then enters, sees the mess, and wants to clear it up. But, the grandmother stops them from doing so. From the grandmother, a clear message is sent, “The one who created the mess, needs to accept the mess, before it is cleared up.”

This is were the scene in my mind finished.
The grandmother loved the boy, and was not being mean in her actions. She just wanted the boy to be able to heal, which meant, facing up to what had been done. In the movie, this happens straight away (on the boys face), but in the scene in my mind, there was a delay.

It left me with a further scene of the grandmother, and her friend, sitting in the trashed room, having a cup of tea. The grandmother was clearly troubled, but at peace (in a strange kind of way). The friend just looked awkward, trying to find a clear spot to sit in, desperately wanting to tidy the room up, but not being allowed to do so.

I’ve been thinking about denial, just recently, and the problems that it could possibly cause.

In the scenes above, I think that we can see hidden trauma being released in an explosive way, in the trashing of the room.
In the scene that played out in my mind, we can then see, “denial” playing it’s part, by the boy just running away. Don’t look at it, run away, it’s not really there, it never happened.
If the room was cleared up, then could the delusion possibly be allowed to continue?
This would not be good for the boy.
As hard as it is, for the boy and grandmother (and also the visiting friend) the mess needs to remain, so that the boy can then face up to what has happened, instead of just brushing it under the carpet.

Facing up to hurts, can be a very painful thing to do.
Facing up to them with a Loved one, holding your hand and guiding your steps, may be a better way of doing it, rather than going at it alone.
We have a Loving Heavenly Father, who is For us, and wants the Best for us. If we have something that we need to deal with, that we are struggling with, then we can call on His help and His guidance, to help us, to get through it.

The final scene (that was not in the film) that ran through my mind this morning, was of the boy and the grandmother, making a start on clearing up the room, together.

Lord God,
If there is anything that we have been trying to hide from, for any reason, then please help us to look at it together.
Please be the Loving and Guiding hand, that can help us to make it through all things.
Our Loving Heavenly Father,
Amen.

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Psalm 139:23-24
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

1 John 1:5-10
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

I nearly murdered my sandwich the other day. 🙂
(At the time this was written.)

It wasn’t the sandwich’s fault, it was just the final thing that topped me over the edge. (Or nearly.)

I was just trying to cut my cheese and pickle sandwich in half, but it was the wrong knife for going through the crusts. The crusts just simply looked at the knife and in effect said, “Ha, wrong knife mister. You aren’t cutting me with that.”

I just tore the crusts apart in the end, suppressing the urge to pound the sandwich into the work top and then throwing it straight at the window, which was closed.
It would have been a better option if the window was open.
At least then the birds would have been able to peck away at those blasted crusts, rather than it just make a mess of the window.

Fortunately I managed to surpress the urge to murder the sandwich and throw it at the window. The scenario burning through my head was enough to bring me to my senses.

I just thought, “Have things got so bad that I’m now about to murder a sandwich???” 🙂

I’m not going to share what brought me to this point here. (It would probably take too long, and could possibly end up making me look small minded and silly.)
But it has left me with the thought of, “Can we acknowledge when we are not doing too well?”

When we are not doing so well, then how do we deal with it?
Do we just try to ignore it, and then almost destroy a sandwich? (Or something else?)
Is there a better option that we could take?

Psalm 42:5

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

King David knew a thing or two about things not going too well for him, at times.
There are many Psalms where David pours his soul out.
He has times when he acknowledges that things are not so good, and then looks to God for his help.

Could we all try to follow David’s example instead of coming to the point where we just want you murder a poor defenceless cheese and pickle sandwich?

Lord God Almighty,
You are my Lord God.
Thank you that You are for me and not against me.
Thank you that You do Love me.
Help me to come to You that much sooner, before I start to do the daft and silly things.
You are my Rock and Fortress, and to You I look for my help.
You are The One who can keep me from falling and keep me out of harms way.
In You I can find Your rest.
My Lord God Almighty.
Amen.

This is an account of an incident that actually happened. It doesn’t show the best of what cyclists can do, but it does demonstrate why we all shouldn’t put ourselves, where we are not meant to be.

There was a cyclist who on his journey to work came to a certain junction.

At this junction it was quicker and easier to go onto the pavement to go past it.

After a time the cyclist realised that if he went on the wrong side of the road for a very short space, then he could navigate the junction just a little bit quicker and easier.
No one was hurt or put out by the cyclist doing this, and thus a new way of navigating the junction was made into a routine for the cyclist.

Each day the cyclist would come to the junction, look to make sure that the wrong side of the road was clear, then just use the wrong side of the road for a very short section, of the road. Another day of passing through the junction at a better pace, without causing anyone any issues. …. ???

Until one day….
One day the cyclist was a bit distracted. Something was going through the cyclists mind as he approached the junction.
So instead of checking that the way was clear, the cyclist just went onto the wrong side of the road, as had been done, sooo many times before, and had now become the norm… only this time… a car was coming on the other side of the road…. The right side of the road!

DANGER AHEAD !!!

“Oh Dear!!???” (And a great many other things) went through the cyclists head. “What am I doing, and how did I get here???” Also went through the cyclists head.

The car driver, probably thought (and quite rightly so) many similar sorts of things.

Fortunately for all, there was enough space for the cyclist to pull to the side, so the car could pass by without incident, (other than both people thinking, “What is going on?”)

The cyclist then sheepishly made his way to the pavement, and then tried to fathom out, what had just happened???

It was soon worked out. The cyclist had been doing the wrong thing, and getting away with it for sooo many times that it had just become normal thing to do. The wrong normal thing.
The cyclist liked the quicker way go through the junction, and nobody was hurt or put out…. Until the day it all went wrong!
Because the cyclist was were he shouldn’t have been.
The cyclist, in a moment, vowed to never put himself in such a silly position ever again.

It would be very easy to read this account and then want to go on a witch hunt for the said cyclist and bring him to task for his actions. But no such hunt is necessary.
The cyclist knew that he had done wrong.
Repented of his wrong actions and vowed to never repeat, said action again.

Are there times when we go and put ourselves in a similar position to the cyclist?
Do we ever take a short cut with something, even though we know it’s not quite the right way to do …… ?
Do we then get away with taking our short cut for a time?
Can we then start to think that our short cut is a better way to do ……. as it had worked well for sooo many times in the past?
Will we come to a day when it won’t work??? …..
Will we then come to a moment of “DANGER AHEAD!!!” ???
Could we steer clear of such a moment by doing what is right instead of taking our convenient short cut, that could lead to …???

A lie served up with a truth, can be so much more difficult to see.
I think that I first saw this in a TV programme once.

There were two agencies working on a case, when one wanted to direct the second away from something. They tried to do this by handing over a lie, an altered photograph. But the photo was handed over with other evidence, which was truthful.
When the lie was exposed, the question was asked, as to why was the lie given with the truthful evidence? The answer was very straightforward, “A lie is best served up between two truths.”

The two truths, can tend to validate the lie.
The two truths have proved to be good, and this third one has come from the same source, so, I can trust this one as well then, …. can’t I???

If the third one is actually truth, then yes, you can trust that one as well.
But if it is a lie, then it’s a lie, hidden between two truths.
A lie is a lie, regardless of how many truths it is surrounded by. It just might be more difficult to see, if a truth is standing next to it.

It could be like ground up glass, mixed in with sugar. It may be difficult to see the difference. But if you taste it, the difference will show itself up, very quickly. (Do not test this theory out. That would be a very foolish and dangerous thing to do!)

Why am I going into all this though?

When we hear from Our God, then we are meant to test if it is actually from Our God.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-24

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.
²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

We can see from the above, that we are meant to test all things. To hold onto the good and to reject every kind of evil. If something is part good, then we should take hold of the good, but let go of the not so good. We need to be careful to not take in something that is wrong, just because it is covered or hidden in something that is good.
We need to be on our guard against things that could lead us astray or cause us harm. If we are unable to separate the two, then would we be that much better off, to just avoid the questionable source altogether?

So where do we look to for how we should act or go?
For us people who call on and look to Our Heavenly Father, He should be, needs to be, the first port of call for who we look to!
His Word, the Bible, is how we can test, to see if the way we are heading is right, or not.

Psalm 119:103-105

¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
    therefore I hate every wrong path.

נ Nun

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.

In today’s modern world, there are so many sources, trying to show or teach us everything. (Or at least, try to.) But how many are leading to a wrong path, whilst masquerading as the sweetest, best thing?
How many sweet words, will turn into the most vile and bitter of aftertastes?

The best way to protect ourselves from wrong thinking, is to know Our Lord God’s words, and His way for us to go, and to then follow His path, that He has laid out for us.

With a title like this one, well, who’s going to read it??? 🙂
I’ll leave the spotlight shinning to The Lord Our God, and hope that He directs those, for who it is meant for.

Are you Grieved?

This was a word that was brought by someone after a week of prayer, not by me. It was brought with a heavy reluctant heart. But the person, who I know to be a man of God, brought it all the same.

I may get some of the details of what was said wrong, but the the question was posed, “Are you Grieved?”
The bits I heard, that may or may not have been said, was, “Are you Grieved, for what you don’t have?”

I believe that this word came to the word bringer, about the same time that I got last week’s post. Will you let the Chaff Fly Away. They could be linked.
Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press, when he was visited by the angel of the LORD (Judges 6:11). Gideon was grieved.
“Where are all the signs and wonders of times gone by?” Was the tone of Gideon’s thoughts. (Judges 6:13)
In some ways they echo my thoughts in the here and now.

Where are all the signs and wonders that SHOULD accompany the preaching of the Gospel?
Where is the Power of, The Lord Our God?
In short, where is the Revival, that we are all waiting for? (Are you waiting for it?)

To them questions, Yes! I am grieved.
I hear and see that there could be, should be soo much more, but for some reason, we are lacking.

Why is this?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the definitive answer.
But, do we need to let the wind, take the chaff away that much more?
Do we need to let go of that, which has so little value, but we cling to all the same?
Do we need to be refined by Our Lord God’s Fire, so that we can then be Pure and Holy so that we can then be, what we are meant to be, in the first place?
Are we willing to go through the fire?
Are we willing to let the wind, take the chaff away?

During the week, another word was spoken. It was a prayer (from Lectio 365 Devotions)
“Lord, I pray for my church. If steadiness has become stagnancy, come and stir us up.
If peacefulness has become sleepiness, come and wake us up.
There is a wide, wild, and wonderful world to explore and to win with you. Help us not to miss it!”

Are we receiving a wake up call?
If we are, then how will we respond to it?

Our Lord God,
Search me and try me.
Seek out if there is any offensive way in me.
Help me, as You refine me.
Let me be, as You want me to be.
Amen.

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Are we too Pleasant to each other? (At times)
Are we truly real with each other?

Are we like the Church at Laodicea?
A follow on from “Are we too Pleasant to each other? (At times)”

Is your greatest trophy just a foundation stone?
Are you living in the past or are you willing to step into the new?

Somebody else’s problem
Will you pick up or put down what Father tells you to?

The Church on the Cliff Top
Will we listen for the small steps as well as the vision?