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Something of our Testimony, Part 2

If you haven’t read Part 1, then it might make sense to read that one first.
You know, read chapter 1 before chapter. 2 🙂

There is going to be a lot of references to past posts here. (Links should be highlighted.)

If Father makes something stand out to you, then that might be one for you to have a closer look at.

So, what have I (we) learnt form all our troubles?

I think that my wife summed it up nicely when I spoke to her about writing these posts.
She said, “It’s like God has been the glue, holding us together.”

What a true statement that is!
If we didn’t have the help of our Heavenly Father, then how would we have kept it together? It was tough enough with His help.

The short answer to what have I learnt, is a lot of the posts that I have posted on Wannabe Christian Doorman. Which all (hopefully) say that it is better to turn to God rather than to just rant and rave at Him.

If we need to let steam off, then Father is able to listen to us and to help us.

But we do need to come to the place where we run to Father, rather than just keep moaning to, or at Him.

We need to be willing to listen to Him.

One of the pictures He spoke to me was I see a Vessel. He was asking me to let Him in, even though I thought I couldn’t handle anything.

I’ve learnt that sometimes you need to choose life, even when it hurts. The Calling Abyss explains this one.

I was fortunate that I already knew about the power of forgiveness, (Forgiveness is Key) and it has served me well to be quick to forgive. (Although sometimes, I’ve not been as quick to do this as I should.)

The idea of accepting where you are, came from a counsellor who explained that just accepting where you are can have the ability of stopping you from feeling like a victim.

In effect, it is you making the choice to remain where you are, even though you don’t like it.

It took me some time to be convinced of that one, but I can now say that there is a truth to it.

Add to accept, repent and forgive, and you then have three little words of power.

Yes, another post of, Accept, Repent and Forgive, there is power here!

In order to truly learn that message, I had the opportunity to put what I wrote into practise, hence Accept, Repent and Forgive (a practical example)

I’ve also come to the idea that sometimes you just need to do something, instead of just stopping and dwelling on poor little me.

Why is it that when you have troubles people can tend to tell you to rest up, and do nothing? looks into this idea a bit more.

We do need to use wisdom, when looking for what to do.
Trying to climb Mount Everest when your suffering with fatigue is never going to be a good idea.
But a small helpful word to someone, could possibly help you also.
There is a blessing to be had in giving.

I have found that as I turn to Father, then His grace is sufficient for me.

Sometimes I have been to slow to turn to him and sometimes I didn’t even know quite what that meant.

It is in them times that I was just doing what I wrote about in, How Do You Pray when you feel you just can’t do anything?

I’ve learnt that it is good to sing praises to God at all times, and all the more so when you are in the middle of a storm. “I’ll Raise a Hallelujah” is a battle cry, looks into this one. (In a round about way).

I have learnt that you do have a choice, as to what you will do.

For me I have found that it is better to remain in the place of, yet I will praise the Lord, in spite of all that is going on around you.
Habakkuk sums this one up nicely.

Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the sheepfold and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.

I’ve also learnt that sometimes you need to look hard to find things to be thankful for.
It can be easy to see the things to complain about, but to find the blessings that you do have, well, that can take a bit more effort to find.
It’s a search that is worth doing though.
As a simple song says,
Count your blessings.
Count them one by one.
Count your blessings, see what the Lord has done.

There are plenty more lessons that I have learnt through all that we have gone through.
These are the lessons which Father has lead me to share here.
I do have an archive page of Posts about Struggles where further post can be found. (An entire archive page about struggles… Have I known some struggles then…??? 🙂 )

I am also aware that things could have been so much worse, and that there are some, whose load is heavier than ours.
No matter how heavy your load is, if you can come to the place of running to Father, then you too can know the power of
2 Corinthians 12:9
 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Writing this post, has just kind of flowed.
Starting it was a different matter.
I had so many thoughts flying around, then I was distracted and then I had to say no to, I’ll just do this instead.
It almost feels as if someone didn’t want it to be written…???
Once I started, it just worked.
Sometimes we just need to start, and then trust that Father will lead us to where He wants us to go.

Father,
Again and again I say thank you, that You are for us.
Help us all to look to You for all our needs.
You are our Loving Father who is for us.
Help us all to remain in you, all of our days.
Amen.

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Something of our Testimony, Part 1

This a post that I never really wanted to write. But it just seems right to do this now. I do have to follow Father’s prompting, after all.

So why am I writing this now?
It is a follow up to the two previous posts of, It just isn’t Fair and How can a God who is all Loving allow ….. to happen?
It might be possible to argue that it’s easy to write what I did from a happy place, but I have known troubles, as you are about to read. It is because of the troubles that I have known, that I can say, His grace is sufficient for me.

This has to come with a warning. If you don’t like sad stories, then stop reading now.

So, where to start?

My wife and I had been married for a couple of years and was expecting our first child. Times were looking good. That is until my wife had her first scan. Our baby’s heart wasn’t beating.

That was just the start of a very bad year.

She had a miscarriage shortly after the scan, but then needed to have a procedure to clear away the remainder that was left. Between the miscarriage and the procedure I managed to have an accident with the car.

A squirrel ran into the road. The first car stopped, so did the second. I was the third car, and didn’t stop in time. Instead I tried to fit a big car into a small gap, (looking for a space to get out of trouble) only to find that it didn’t fit. Hence the car was written off, to add to the mix of troubles.

The day of the procedure came and my mum took my wife to the hospital. I had no car after all.
That morning, when I said goodbye to my wife, was last time I saw her as she should have been.

I went to the hospital to pick her up to find that she had reacted badly to the anaesthetic. I think that she was a bit groggy and not with it at that point. The nurses were concerned but not overly so.
So she stayed in for what was meant to be a night.

I came back the following morning to find the nurses were more concerned. She was having seizures. When I saw the first one it was scary. The really scary bit is when you start to become immune to them (because you have seen to many by that point) and you then just go, oh here comes another one.

The doctor came in time and gave some medication to stop the seizures. Quite what happened next is a bit of a blur now. But my my wife stayed in hospital for a further night or nights while I went home again.

The next big scare was after a lumber puncture. One of the tests they did in order to diagnose what was happening.

She had a few small seizures, but the doctors didn’t want to use medication at that point as they were small and hoped that it wouldn’t be needed.
Short version, they were wrong.
The nurses were following the doctors advice, and I needed to make a fuss when it was clear that it was the wrong route to take.
She did eventually get the medication she needed and I went home while, my wife rested again.
The night was more stressful than I have made it sound here. (That was the short version.)

A couple of day’s later I received a phone call from the hospital asking me to go in.
As I entered they were moving my wife to an ambulance to transfer her to a neurological ward in another hospital. They were basically telling me things were going very wrong. I can still remember one thing they said to me.
It was, ” I don’t think that you understand how bad things are. Your wife could stop breathing at any moment and we won’t be able to resuscitate her.”

As I said, it went very wrong.

She didn’t die.
She did however spend a week, or there about, in a coma, gradually coming back round.
When she did come out of the coma, she was left with life changing health issues to deal with.

We did, after a while, get the diagnosis of a stroke. Bleeds and clots of the smaller blood vessels, which is worse apparently, on both sides of her brain.

My wife spent the best part of a year doing a tour of London hospitals as the doctors tried to find a cause for the stroke. Not an easy task to complete. Many things were ruled out, but no definitive answer was found.

Many months went by (possibly about 7 or 8 months) before my wife was able to start coming home, for overnight stays to start off with. After almost a year she was able to come back home, with a full time carer.

She still had mobility issues and problems with short term memory.
The short term memory issues meant that learning anything was (and still is to an extent) that much more difficult. Not what you need when there is a need to learn how to adapt to your new normal.
On top of that she was also registered as partially sighted. It should have been partially blind, but my wife would have none of it. “I’m not blind, look I can see.” She insisted to me.
It was the same battle when it came to the disabled badge. “I don’t need one of them, I’m not disabled.”
“Sorry, but yes you are”, I had to gently insist.

In the early part of her recovery, she had lost a lot of her memory.
She forgot that we were married. She thought that her wedding ring was an engagement ring. It was only when I showed her our wedding pictures that she accepted that we were married.
To say that her recovery was tough is very much so an understatement.

At one point I did buy a motorbike to be able to get about and back and forth from the hospital.
It got stolen, and the kids who stole it were then riding it in the local park.
I almost got it back at one point. Me and my brother were looking for it, on the day it was stolen, and saw it coming towards us. He blocked the road with his car and I then tried to close the gap on the pavement. As the bike was going past me, I jumped at it. I must have looked like superman flying through the air, only to discover that I don’t have the power to fly. Hence, I landed on the floor shouting arrrrrr.
It was probably for the best that I didn’t catch them, it’s not good to dwell on what could have happened if I had.

I ended up buying a better bike, and a better lock/s. So I was mobile again.

I remember when the twin towers came down. I watched it on a TV at work. I saw it and just thought, “Oh, that looks bad, but I’m off to the hospital now.” It’s not that I didn’t care, it’s just that my attention was on what I (and my wife) had to deal with.

There is lots I haven’t said. It would probably take an entire book (or series of them) to note down everything. (If I could even remember it all.)

Many people were very supportive, my wife’s parents were very much so included in this, as any good parents would be. But they live a two hour car journey away. So they were limited to what they could do.
What they could do, they did do, and both me and my wife are very thankful for all that they did.

My mum, being local, was able to be more involved. She was and still is a great help to us both.

Our church was very much so praying for us.
I was told that on the first Sunday when it went very wrong, the church spent that morning praying for us both.
In the early days when my wife was in the local hospital, she was not short of visitors. There might have even been someone scheduling who could go in and at what time. I always had the last slot.
Even when she was in the London hospitals, there was still quite regularly someone calling in on her.

On the day when it went very wrong, our pastor came to the ward, where we were, and with great faith and boldness, both he and his wife prayed for instant healing.
The way they prayed left me half expecting her to just get up, but there was the other side of me that just kind of laughed.
Sorry. It was just so different to what I was experiencing at that point.
Both me and my wife are still waiting for fulfilment of that prayer, that did have that something extra to it.
An answer postponed is not a no, just a delay.

It has been tough at times to know that, God is able to heal my wife, but for whatever reason, He just hasn’t done so…. yet.
It is during these times that we just need to trust and obey, and follow His leading.

I’ll be finishing this post here, it is a bit longer than I thought it was going to be.
But for this week, it will be a two for one posting 🙂
Due now is Part 2, What did we learn through all this?

______________________

There is an update/correction to this testimony. It centers around something that happened, that I just glossed over. It was effectively My Ugly Rock. It started with a picture, that I was given, which then turned into me dealing with my Ugly Rock. Which then became a mini series of posts. (Numbering 5) For anyone who would like to read them, the first one is…

Will you work with Our Lord, to shape, your Ugly Rock?

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How can a God who is all Loving allow ….. to happen?

This is a follow up from last week’s post. If you haven’t read the last post, It just isn’t fair, then please do consider reading that one first, as that post sets my mind set for this post.

Brief summary of last week’s post.
Life isn’t fair.
Jesus told us this in Matthew 20 1-16.
God says “My grace is sufficient for you.”

You really do need to read the whole post to understand them three short statements.

In order to try to answer the question of why does God allow ….. to happen, I think that we need to first look at where (or who) the question is coming from.

I do believe that the enemy (the devil) is the one who wispers that very thought into our minds.

It is, after all, a very effective thought that can keep people away from God.

If you are focusing on all that is wrong, then you are not seeing all the goodness that God has for you.

It’s an age old tactic that the enemy has been using since the fall, all the way back in Genesis 3. If he can get you to listen to him, instead of God, then he (the enemy) can lead you astray by questioning if God does indeed know what is best.
God is God and does actually know what is best!

As I wrote about last week, life just isn’t fair.
Suffering is another aspect of that unfairness.

The real question should be, how will you deal with …. when you see or experience it?

Ultimately, we can stand and shake our fist at God and ask “What are you doing?” Or we can run to Him and ask, “Lord, help us”

When everything else is cut away, we are then left with.
Will you blame God for …. , or will you call out to Him for help?

You could even possibly be part of the solution to …. , if you will just follow His steps that He has for you???

A friend of mine once said a really irritating phrase to me. If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

I think that he said it to be funny, and a bit irritating, but I do see a truth here. (Or at least a partial truth.)

If there is rubbish on the street and you just walk past it, then you are part of the problem of rubbish on the street, by ignoring it and walking past it. (Do you see how irritating this statement can be?)

We can always endeavour to not add to the problem by putting our own rubbish into a bin or taking it home to deal with.

There are some problems that are too big for you to be the answer to.
I have written a post on this idea already called, Somebody else’s problem.

There are some thing’s where we can possibly be part of the solution and there are some things where it is not for us to intervene. We need to use wisdom to know the difference.

If we choose to not be part of the solution (when God has asked us to be part of the solution) then the answer to the question of, why do you allow …. , is because “You won’t do what was asked of you.”

How many times has God said, “I see the problem and I have a solution, I made you and put you in a place where you can be part of the solution.”

To try and keep the thinking in its most simple form, is there a something wrong where you could be part of the solution?
If world hunger is something that you think is wrong, then do you support a charity with regular giving (that you are able to do) that is fighting against world hunger?

Are you starting to see how you could possibly be part of the solution to some things?

For some suffering, it can appear that there is no such answer to it. Health problems can be one such suffering.

If bad health affects us, then how will we deal with this?

Will we stand and shake our fist at God, asking “How can you allow this to happen?” Or will you run to God and ask, “Lord, help me!”

It is when we are suffering that God will say to us all the more, “My grace is sufficient for you.” If we will only call out to Him.

You might be tempted to say, “It’s easy for you to say that, but you don’t see what I’m going through.”

I don’t know what it is that you are going through, but I have known my own troubles. In next week’s post I plan to share some of my and my wife’s testimony with the hope that it might help someone else who is going through something, and help you to understand my point of view that much better.

In closing this post I still think that Father’s last word to us will still be, “My grace is sufficient for you.” (From 2 Corinthians 12:9)

Father,
It’s never easy when we are suffering.
Seeing or experiencing it.
Help us to look to You at all times, and all the more so in times of trouble.
You are our Loving Father and You are there to help us.
So help us to run to You so that You can be our help, so that we can all say, Your grace is sufficient for me.
Amen.

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It Just Isn’t Fair!

How many times have you just spoken or thought those words?
It just isn’t fair.

If you are anything like me then it could be too many times to count.

In the world we can see many things which we think aren’t right or fair, but when we come to Father, then can we expect things to be fair?

We can expect Father to be righteous and just, but can we expect Father to be fair…. from our point of view…???

I have recently heard a teaching on Matthew 20 1-16
It’s the parable where a landowner goes out and agrees with workers to pay a denarius for a days work. He then goes out later in the day and hires more workers and agrees to pay them whatever is right.
By the end of the day the land owner has several groups of people who have been working for different amounts of time who need to be paid.

Have a read of Matthew 20 1-16 to get the full picture.

When the workers are to be paid, the landowner starts with the last to be hired, and then pays them a denarius.
He does this with all the workers right up to the first to be hired.

When the first to be hired is given their denarius, they then start to grumble.
You have made us the same as those who have just been hired, even though we have borne the the burden of work and the heat of the day.

From our human view point we can all see this as unfair.
Why should one who has only worked an hour receive the same as one who has worked all day long?

The landowner replies in verse 13-15
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

The parable is started with the words, “For the kingdom of heaven is like..”

I used to think that this was a reference to those who make a confession of faith late in life.

I have no problem with the idea that those who come to Christ later in life are still able to enjoy the same salvation as me, who’s been around a little while.
But listening to the speaker, he was saying that the kingdom of heaven, might just not be fair (from our point of view).

The clue to this is in verse 1. The kingdom of heaven is like….

So does this mean that the Kingdom of heaven might not be quite as fair as I thought it was?

Some might be blessed more than others…???

Some might have troubles while others will have blessings…???

That is very much so starting to sound like what life is actually like.

So, was Father telling us all in advance that we will not all have the same lot in life?

Was Father telling us that, we can expect life as a Christian to be unfair, from our point of view?

This should not be such a revelation as it is only stating how life actually is.

The question really should then be, how will we deal with this apparent unfairness?

Will we complain and grumble like the first workers did?

Do we even have any grounds to grumble at God?

God is God and anyone who might want to grumble to God is going to be on the loosing side of the discussion.

But do we even have anything to complain about in the first place?

What is our focus on?

What others are receiving or what is available is us?

As I think about this, the one phrase that keeps coming back to me is, “My grace is sufficient for you.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Are we able to focus on the grace that we are receiving or are we focusing on what others appear to have?

Very early on in the ten commandments we are told not to covert anything, so isn’t this just saying the same thing?

Focus on what you have, instead of what others have.

It appears that it is such an important idea, that Jesus gave us a parable to teach us this very lesson.

So, if we are going through hard times, will we be able to be pleased for someone who is being blessed by Father, even though we may be struggling, because His grace is sufficient for us.
Or will we be focusing on what someone else is receiving, only to miss the blessings that is available to us, if we could only see and receive it?

Is this part of what it means to have a God’s Kingdom mindset?

Focus on where you are instead of where others are?
Likewise, focus on what you have rather than what others have, even if it appears as if it is unfair, at times.

I do believe that Father’s final word to us would be, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Will we be able to see and step into the grace He has for us?

Father,
Thank you that Your grace is sufficient for me.
Help me to see this more and more so that I can step into all that you have for me.
Help me not to focus on what other are receiving but to focus on what You have for me, so that I can keep in step with You.
Amen.

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How do you Measure your Success?

This is probably one of those age old questions which has been asked many times before.

As a Christian, I can also bring in the, “Who am I trying to please?” aspect. (We are all trying to please Father, I can almost hear my all my fellow brothers and sisters call out together.)

OK, that’s all sorted then. Is this going to be one of the shortest posts ever then ???

I do believe there is a bit more to be said.

We are in the world and as such are influenced by the world.
Hopefully, if we do indeed follow Jesus, then his input to our lives is greater than the input of the world.

If this is truly the case, then why are we so quick to look for what the world thinks?

In this digital age we can post almost anything at anytime.
When we do, what is our next instinct?

Does anybody like it?
Has anybody even seen it?
Am I looking like a fool here, or do people agree with me?

Basically, we are looking to be validated.
Always asking, do you agree with me?

If we are asking any of the above questions, then what the world thinks matters to us.
It is how the world measures success.

There is nothing wrong in receiving praise for doing something well.
But if praise is what you are looking for, then it can direct your steps, possibly leading you in a wrong direction.

The crowd (world) can be very fickle, loving you one day and hating you the next.

Father is consistent.
He Loves us with an everlasting Love that does not change.
He will rebuke us, when we need to be brought back into line, but his Love for us remains the same.

Hopefully, I’m stating the obvious for all who know and love Father as I do.
So, can we measure our success by what Father thinks of us?

I can remember what a church leader said to me once.
“Won’t it be great, when I come face to face with Father for Him to say to me, well done good and faithful servant, I am pleased with you.”

At the time, I kind of thought, “That sounds nice.” But I didn’t think anything much more than that, at that point in time. (I was a young Christian at the time.)
I have since moved to the position of, “Yes, wouldn’t be good for Him to say that about me, also.”

So yes, I do want Father’s opinion of me to matter more than anything else, but it still doesn’t stop me from looking for all those likes.

Why is this?
Because I’m still in the world and what the world thinks still has an impact on me.

I do try to look to Father first.
This can put you in an unpopular position.

Jesus knew all about this.

Jesus followed His path to the cross.
He suffered, was rejected by all, was crucified and paid the ultimate price, he died.

Did that look like success? …..at the time?

The world (and the enemy) all thought that He was defeated.
We won’t hear anything else from Him. No more likes for Jesus….so the world thought.

But at the cross, SIN was DEFEATED!!!!!!!!!! (not enough ! can ever be put after that statement.)

What the world saw as failure, was in fact VICTORY and SALVATION for the world.

When He died, he paid the price for ALL that we have done wrong, and made a way so we can now enter into His presence. (If we accept and follow Jesus.)

What God saw at that moment was so much better than what the word saw at that moment.

Can we truly take this thought forward with us?
Can we truly be more concerned about what Father thinks of us instead of the what the world does?

We may fail in our own eyes, but if we are following Father, then have we failed???

I think of Daniel Wilkson (The Cross and the Switchblade) when he went to court to try and speak up for gang members who had committed a very nasty act and were being punished for it.
He went in with his bible in hand and tried to speak up for them.
The press said, what’s that in your hand, a bible, well hold it up then.
He did, and the press took there photos and his face was plastered all over the newspapers, but not in a good way.
He was ridiculed and he felt that he had brought that ridicule to the church and God as well.
Failure, in his own eyes. (At the time.)

It was an open door though!

From that open door, Teen Challenge has emerged.
A world wide organisation that helps those in great need.

Failure for man, but success for God.

So again I ask, can we measure our success by what Father thinks of us?
Can we look to Him first, before we look to the world for validation?

The lady who danced in the park, has stayed with me (since Father spoke to me about her).
https://wannabechristiandoorman.com/2021/03/28/the-lady-who-danced/

When she danced, she did it for Father.
She wasn’t worried about what the world thought.
She was not concerned (and probably not even aware) of the onlooker who was wrongly judging her.
She did it for Farther, and made His heart smile.

I try to remember this, and also try to put myself in the same place of being more concerned about what Father thinks and less concerned about what the world thinks.

Could you do likewise?

Father,
You are Lord God Almighty!
King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
There is no one greater than You.
Help me to always look to You.
Help me to be more concerned about what You think of me and less concerned about what the world thinks of me.
Help me to be in the place where You can say to me, well done good and faithful servant, I am pleased with you.
Thank you that You do Love and care for me, and every one else.
Amen.

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An Open Door.

We have just had a week of prayer at my church, recently.
One word which came was, “I have placed an open door before you, you just need to step through it.”

It’s always pleasing to hear words of this nature, but do we truly know what a word like this can mean?

I opened a door in my house just recently.
It was the door to my side extension.
There was a mess behind it. I kind of knew that the mess was there. I was the one to close the door on the mess in the first place. But I had conveniently forgotten about it, right up until the moment I opened the door again.

This time, rather than just close the door I did do a bit of clearing up.

As I was clearing up, I was thinking about the word that was brought during our week of prayer.

Are all open doors going to lead to happy blessings, or are they going to lead to a task (work) that needs to be done, in order to see the blessing that will come from doing said task?

You do know that blessings come from being obedient to Father?

The Israelites had an open door offered to them after they left Egypt.
You can read about it in Numbers starting at chapter 13.
They just needed to go and take the land that was being given to them.
But they didn’t take it. Instead they listened to a report that said there are strong people in the land and they became afraid.

They should have listened to God and gone forward. But because the open door meant going up against the strong people, who they were focusing on instead of their God, they didn’t.

Do we treat open doors in the same way?

If we look at it, and don’t like what we see, do we then turn away? Only to miss the growth opportunity and blessings that could have followed?

I sometimes think that we expect things to be easy, and when they turn out to not be so easy, we can then turn away from whatever it is that is not so easy.

One of the scriptures that I’m often drawn to is Matthew 11 28-30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Even in this scripture which speaks about rest, the rest is found in doing something.
It says, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” A yoke implies work that needs to be done, but it is light and easy.

In other words, it is a task that you are able to do.
How many times have we missed a blessing because we didn’t want to engage in a task that was in front of us, that we could do, if we would only chose to?

You might find an enemy behind the open door to you, just like Israelites did. But if the door has been opened by Father, then He will be with you!

If He is with us, then who can be be against us?

If He is with us, then the swords that the enemy hold have the strength of paper swords.
They are able to shout and wave them about, but that is all that they can do. The enemy will do all they can to intimidate us, but that is all they are able to do, if Father is with us.
If Father is for us, then the paper swords will melt away and we will take the ground that Father is giving to us, as we step into what He has for us.

So when you are given an open door, will you step through it, in Father’s strength and face all that is before you, together with Him who is Lord of All?

Father,
Thank you that you do place open doors before us.
Help us to see them through Your eyes.
Help us to see the victories that You will lead us to.
Help us not to be intimidated by the enemy, but to listen, and to trust in You.
Our Lord God Almighty.
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Amen.

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Be Fully Filled

I finished my shower gel this morning. (I am going somewhere with this.)

I then tried to clean out the last of the shower gel, before placing it in the recycling.

I put a small amount of water in the bottle, shook it and emptied it.
Soap bubbles were left behind.
I did this a couple of times, but soap bubbles were always left behind.

Lets try something different.
I then filled the bottle with water.
No shaking was needed this time as the soap bubbles were all pushed out by the water that was taking the space up.

Then I got the sense that Father was saying to me.
“This can be just like you at times, you take on a little bit of Me and then try to clean all the little bits you don’t like out with a great amount of effort, just to find that there is always a little bit left over.
Instead of only taking on a small amount of Me, why don’t you try being fully filled with Me, just like you filled the bottle with the water?
You will then find that as I take the space up, then everything else will just be pushed out without the need for all that shaking about.
So just open up to Me and be fully filled, with Me.”

Father,
I’m sorry for all the times when I don’t let you in fully.
Please help me to open up to You completely.
I ask You to fill me completely so that You then overflow from me.
Help me to remain in You, so that I will always be continually filled by You.
Amen.

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You are what you eat.

Healthy food leads to a healthy body.

But what about the spiritual food you eat?

Do we look after our inner self by taking hold of the truth that Father has, and speaks to us?
Or do we listen and give to much attention to what the enemy tries to speak and feed to us instead?

When put in this simple way, then hopefully we all can say that we want what is good for us.
But will our actions follow this thought through?

When we are feeling tired and a bit (or a lot) run down, it is at these times that the enemy will redouble his efforts to make his voice that much louder.
He may try to tell you that you don’t matter, that nobody sees or even hears you and all the other untruths he will endeavour to speak to you.

If we feed on the lies of the enemy, then it’s not going to be good for us. An unhealthy appetite leads to an unhealthy body.

So how can we try to have a healthy spiritual body?

First we need to know that we have a choice about which food we feed ourselves on.
The enemy may well want to hide this simple fact from us, but we do indeed have a choice as to what we take into our hearts and minds.

We then need to try to choose the things which are good for us.

We need to take on Father’s words to us.
His written word, and also His promptings He gives to us to follow His ways.

We need to spend time with Father, otherwise known as prayer.
We need to spend time speaking, and listening to what Father has to say to us.

We need to spend time with other believers, otherwise known as fellowship.
We need to spend time building others up as well as allowing others to build us up.
When believers come together, it is at these times that father can show His Love, to His people, through His people.

In short we need to try and have prayer, word and fellowship in our lives in order to have a healthy spiritual appetite.

I have heard these three disciplines described as a three legged stool.
With all three legs in place, you then have a solid base on which you can sit on.
Take one of the legs away, and you you then have something which just falls over.

Having a healthy appetite when times are good should put us in a good position for when times are not so good.
Knowing the Good food that Father has for us, can mean that we know where to go when times are pressing in on us, so that we can then ignore the words of the enemy and instead feast on the goodness that Father has for us.

But what if you don’t have a healthy appetite?
What then, if you are in times of trouble and you are feeding on the wrong things?

The good news is that you can always change your diet!

Remember the first point I wrote about.
You can choose what it is, that you take in.
You can choose to take in and believe what Father says to you.

He says that, YOU ARE IMPORTANT!!!

You are so important that God sent His only son to die for you on the cross!
As God’s word States in John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

We need to try to take on the truth that God speaks to us.

When I was struggling in the past, I used to have a song that I would listen to.
I used to think that it would comfort me as it spoke to me the reality of where I was.
The truth is though, that it was not a good song to listen to.
It was a depressing song.
One that spoke of no change and loneliness.
Instead of comforting me as I thought it was, it was only compounding and confirming to me that I was lonely and telling me that it wasn’t going to change.
Very Bad food to be feeding on when you are feeling low.

I now have a much better appetite of listening to praise and worship music instead!
Good praise and worship music. Yes, there is such a thing.
Bethel church music and Elevation Church music are very often played, via YouTube in my home. Revival in Belfast by Robin Mark is another great album to listen to.
I’ve even had the US marines singing these are the days of Elijah in my home (courtesy of YouTube). When they get to the part of “lift your voice”, they then give a BIG shout. You need to see it at least once. Have a search for “America’s Marines Singing “Days of Elijah”” if you haven’t seen it.

There is so much good food out there to feed on.
We just need to make the choice to choose the food that is going to be good for us, instead of the lies that the enemy tries to feed to us.

Try to seek out Father and all the goodness that He has for you.
It is the better choice.

Father,
Thank you that we do matter to You.
Thank you that we matter so much to You that you sent your only Son to the earth to die for us so that we can know You.
Help us to feed on the goodness that you have for us.
Help us to always look to you first and foremost.
Thank you that You do Love and care for us.
Amen.

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The Church on the Cliff Top

There was a church which met on a cliff top.

One day God clearly spoke to this church.

He said to them…

“Look over the edge of the cliff.
That is Promised Land!
It is a Land of Goodness and blessings.
I am giving that land to you.”

Well, this excited the church!

Promised Land, we’re being given Promised Land!

So the church looked at the situation, and then thought to themselves, we need to take hold of what God has promised us.

We need to build a boat so that we can reach the Promised Land and we also need to build a lift of some kind to get the boat to the water.

God just thought, I didn’t tell you to do that.

But it was no good.
The church had set up it’s work groups and set roles and tasks to be completed, all the while looking at the island and saying to themselves.

God has given us the Promised Land, now we just need to take hold of it.

All there efforts did not go so well.

The cliff top was prone to erosion.

When ever the church started to build there lift, the cliff top would just give way and they would see all there efforts fall into the sea.

Eventually they noticed that the waves were always crashing against the rocks at the base of the cliff.

So even if they could have got the boat down the cliff, then it was only going to be smashed upon the rocks if anyone tried to sail it.

Eventually, disheartened, they sat down on the ground.

While they were still, God spoke again.

“Church, you see that road which leads away from the cliff, I would like you to walk down it.”

The church was nearing total breaking point at this.

“But GOD, you said that you were going to give us the Promised Land!
That’s the wrong way.
Look, the promised Land is over there.”

God answered…

“I know what I said.
Now, will you just trust me and take the path I have shown you.”

The church had little choice.

They stood up and took the path God had told them to take.
They were not to happy.
They kept looking back at the Promised Land, which they were walking away from.
There was a number who were grumbling, is this really the way to go???

As they walked along the path, the hedges grew taller on both sides of them so that the light grew dimmer.

After a while there was a break in one side of the hedges.

God spoke again.
“You see the hole in the hedge, step through it.”

As the church stepped though the hole they found themselves in an open field with a large helicopter in the middle of the field.

The pilot was by the helicopter and greeted the church warmly.

Ah, you must be the party for the Promised Land, I’ve been waiting a while for you to turn up.

____________________________________

You see, God had it all worked out in advance.

He Knew that a boat was not going to work and as such had another plan already laid out.

Yes, the church did hear God correctly when he told them about the Promised Land that he was giving them.

But they needed to hear His instruction on how to take hold of the Land, instead of trying to work out all the details by themselves.

Can we sometimes be like the church on the cliff top?

Can we hear the vision of what will be, but then miss the instructions of how to achieve it?

Do we sometimes try to work the details out ourselves?

And if what we hear from God, appears to take us in the wrong direction, then will we still follow His promptings?

Will we trust Him with the small steps, as well as the vision?

John 10:27
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

If there ever was a church on the cliff top, then how many times would God have been saying to them.

STOP! Turn around and take a different path.
What you’re doing is no good for you.
Come to Me and I shall lead you.

There may well be times when God is happy to let us carry on with what we are doing as it’s already in line with His will.

But there may be other times when He is saying to us, “Come to Me because I have another path for you.”

Will we be willing to follow His ways, where ever they lead us?

Father,
Thank you that you do Love and care for us.
Thank you that You are for us and that You want to bless us.
Help us to always hear Your words to us, so that we can, and always will follow You.
You are The Lord God Almighty.
The One we can trust.
You are our Good Father.
Thank You, Praise You, All Glory to You.
Amen

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The Something Special in the Christmas Tree

We were putting up our Christmas tree just recently, with it being Christmas time, it just seemed like the thing to do.

As we were putting the Christmas tree up, my wife said to me,
“Do you realise that the bare Christmas tree is just like us before we ask Jesus into our lives. It’s missing something. When we ask Jesus into our lives we then take on something special. It’s like the decorations make us that much better.”

I do fully agree with that idea.

We do have two ways to live.
With or without Jesus.

I do think that all those who choose to live without Jesus are like the bare Christmas tree.
Just missing something.

Where as those who have asked Jesus into their lives have clothed themselves with that something special and as such, now appear to be as the decorated Christmas tree.

So which tree do you look like?

Do you have Jesus with you, or not.

If you haven’t asked Jesus into your life yet, then this Christmas as you enjoy your Christmas and the decorations on the tree then consider asking Jesus into your life.
Then you too could have that something special about you as well.

Jesus,
Thank you that you came into the world.
Thank you that you came to show us the way to know you personally.
Thank you that if we ask you into our lives, then you do say yes to us, and you do then make us that much better.
Help us all to say yes to you that much more, so that we can all be that much more special.
Amen.