Tag: Father

This is something which I struggle with from time to time.

I know that if God is saying no to me for something, then it’s for my own good. (Or the good of His Kingdom.) But sometimes the struggle to accept this, is stronger than I’d like it to be.

I would rather allow my Loving Father in Heaven to have the power of veto over my life, willing given by me.

But it can still be a struggle for me. It can be like, look, I’ve just done ……. , I’d like to share this with the world, but then things just happen to stop it.
It can also work in the opposite way. I’ve just done ……. and I’d like to not shout about it. (Sometimes for the wrong reasons and sometimes for the right reasons.) But then everyone (it seems) gets to hear about it.

Sometimes I think that this could be God’s veto, working in my life, for my good, or for the good of His Kingdom.

As I have already said, He does have this power over me and I willing allow this to be so. The Lord God Almighty IS greater than me, and as such it is for my own good that this is so (His power of veto over me). But sometimes, it can be a battle that needs to be fought (daily).

For the good of the Kingdom, can sometimes be an extra challenge for me. If something is for my own good then this can be easier to accept.
But if I’m paying a price (for the good of the Kingdom), well then, sometimes that certainly can be an extra challenge.
If it’s God’s will, then I do want to say yes, but the difficulty can remain.

Jesus has known this too. Before He faced the cross He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

Jesus knew this concept and He yielded to His Father’s will.
I am among those who are so grateful that He did.
He paid my price for all that I have done wrong and because I accept this (and Him), I am now free to enter in to my Father’s house, and presence. He paid the price and now I get the benefit. (Along with everyone else who accepts Jesus into their lives.)

Now if Jesus has paid such a huge price, and I now benefit from it, can I adjust my attitude with this in mind?
Can I be more willing to pay the small price, that I’m asked to pay, for the good of His kingdom?

I have recently been reminded of a time when Ian Green came to our church and spoke. I can’t remember too much of what he spoke about that day except for one small thing.
He was telling us about a time when he was unhappy.
He was feeling tired and was having a bit of a moan about where he was. I think that he reached the point of “I don’t want to be here!”
Then He heard the voice of the Lord, “Who asked you for your opinion?”
He said this with such a big grin on his face that I have seen on him many times before.
Ian was genuine and serious about what he said. I could see that God’s response to Ian’s complaint, that Ian gave, brought him peace, “Who asked you for your opinion?”
I didn’t fully understand this at the time, but I do think that it was Ian, allowing God to have the power of veto over his life, even when it meant that Ian was being taken through a time that was uncomfortable to him. Ian was still willing to say yes to his Lord God Almighty.

Taking on this mindset could lead to us being asked to do things that we wouldn’t normally want to do. Some times when I have not wanted to do something that I thought The Lord wanted me to do, then a song has then played in my mind….
“And I’ll become, even more undignified than this”.
It’s at these points that I have said “OK Lord, if You want this, then I’ll do it.”

The words of the song that I can remember go…
I can sing, I can dance, to be glad for my King.
And I’ll become, even more undignified than this. (Followed by a little merry tune.)
I can remember thinking as we were singing it, that we don’t look very undignified at the moment. (Little, did I know :-))

I believe that the song echo’s David’s response (in the bible) after he danced with all his might before the Lord. The full account can be read in 2 Samuel 6: 14-23
Verse 22 reads,
I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honour.”

David was more concerned about what God thought, even when it meant that he was humiliated in his own eyes.

I pray that I too will be able to remain in this position of allowing God to have the power of veto over me.
Even when I don’t agree or know why. I still want to be able to say yes, to My Lord God Almighty, of having the power of veto over me.
Will you do the same?

My Lord God,
Please help me to always hear Your words to me.
Help me to KNOW your voice that much better so that I can and will follow Your ways, all the days of my life.
Amen.

Have you ever seen one of those marble run videos?
You know the ones were a single ball is set into motion that then moves something else that then releases the next ball, and then so it goes on.
Eventually a flag is flown or or a cannon is fired (or something else) and the run is finished.

For it to all come together, everything needs to be set up just so, so that the run will not be stopped. Everything needs to be ready and waiting to play it’s part, and then when the time comes, it needs to do the right thing. (Have you guessed where I’m going with this yet?)

In the church (or our Father’s house) we all have a part to play.
Are we willing to play our part?
Do we want to be part of what our Heavenly Father wants to achieve?

Hopefully the answer is yes to that one.

If the answer is yes, then will you do your bit, that God is asking you to do?

In the marble run each little element on its own doesn’t look very impressive, but when it’s all put together, that’s when the magic appears.
When everything is doing what it’s meant to.

When we follow what our Heavenly Father wants us to do, then we can be like one of those small elements in the long marble run. We can be part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves.
We can be part of the magic, if we say yes to our Heavenly Father.

Sometimes we might know what we are doing and sometimes we may not. Sometimes we might know why, and other times we may not know why we are being asked to do …….. .
But if our Heavenly Father is asking us to do something (and we know that it’s Him who is asking), then will we do it?

I’m not just talking about the big things, like go to another country and be a light for those in darkness (a good call to answer if you are asked though 🙂 ).
But I’m talking about the small things.
The things where you think, that’s so small and silly, surely that’s just me being silly?

What if it’s not?
What if it’s your chance to play a small role in the larger marble run?
What if it’s your chance to be part of the magic?
Your opportunity to bless someone else in a way that would just blow your mind!

A smile or a kind word at just the right moment could change a life!

Do you want to be a life changer, someone who is willing to talk to someone, when prompted to (by your Loving Heavenly Father)?

Will you be willing to do whatever He asks you to do? It could be so small such as pray for ….. or just give so and so a call.

When we say yes to these moments, then we can be part of something that is so much bigger than just us.
We can be part of His Loving Plan to bless others.

Father,
Help me to hear Your voice that much more clearly.
Help me to say YES to You, when You prompt me to do something.
My Loving Heavenly Father.
Amen.

I think that pictures are great!
Hold on a minute, I think that I need to properly validate that statement.
I think that pictures (when given from God) are great!

That little bit in the middle makes a huge difference, to the statement.

When I get a picture, I see a small portion of the picture. I speak out (a form of painting 🙂 ) the picture that I see in my head. My Heavenly Father sees the bigger picture, and at His direction, my small picture can then be magnified by what He does with it.

I’ll try to explain what is going on in my head a bit better.
I do my small part, sometimes having some idea of where I’m going and sometimes just trusting. Father then comes along and does so much more that I just didn’t see with what I have just done.
I’m then just left with the thought of, WOW, You are just so GOOD Lord!

It can be like I paint a small picture, and then others see all the bits that I didn’t paint. Father comes along and makes the picture so much bigger!

In my mind I have an ink blott picture, but others see a masterpiece. (Sometimes, that is. 🙂 )

Now inkblot pictures can be very funny things.
To one person they can be nothing, to another rage and to another pure love. The difference is interpretation.

Now if Our Heavenly Father is involved with the interpretation, then the same inkblot picture can be whatever it needs to be at any particular time to the person who needs it.

For my inkblot picture to bless somebody else, I don’t need to have the interpretation! I just need to offer up my inkblot picture. (Even if I think, this is just a mess. 🙂 )

Did you know that? You can bless someone without even knowing quite what it is that you are doing.

My wife does this as a matter of routine now.
She used to say to me, so and so has just come to my mind, what does that mean? My off the cuff response was, “Well just pray for them then.”
She did. But now she does this almost automatically. I have even joined her in praying for …… at times.

In short my wife’s inkblot picture can be, ……. has come to my mind, I’ll pray them.

The real question is, When God gives you an inkblot picture to share, will you then share it?
Will you share it even if you don’t understand it?
Will you share it, even if you think that it’s going to make you look a bit silly?
Will you share it and allow God to bless someone else through what you share in Him?
Instead of hiding it away, will you allow your inkblot picture to be a fragrant offering that is acceptable, to your Loving Heavenly Father?

This is a thought that came to me as I was just pondering one day.

I was thinking about the church at Laodicea and Sardis, in Revelations.

Both churches thought that they were good and were strong in an aspect of their being. Then God comes along and effectively says, “You think you are good, but you are not as good or strong as you think you are.”

I do kind of feel that God could be saying to the churches (and individuals), “The thing where you think you are strongest at, if you are not careful, it could become a snare to you. Pride goes before a fall.”

I don’t think that God was really unhappy with the churches, but just wanting to take them to the next level.
I’ve already written about the church at Laodicea before, and this is a bit of a follow up. Summary of the previous post. God wants to take us to the next level, but in order to do so, he needs to shake us up a bit. He does this from a position of Love though.
The previous post can be found here. Are we like the church at Laodicea?

I do believe that God is happy with our trophies, but He also has something new for us to walk into.
Hence the thought, is our greatest trophy just a foundation stone… to the next great thing that God has for us???

If we keep our trophy on the pedestal that we would like to put it on, (you know how it can go, Look at what I have done 🙂 ), then will we be willing to move into the next thing that is waiting for us?

If we view our trophy as a foundation stone, then can we place it on the ground, stand on it, and then be ready for where God will take us next?

Hopefully it won’t break as we step onto it, but if it does, then maybe it wasn’t quite as good as we thought it was…???
If it does break, then don’t despair, God is able to rebuild all things and the next trophy could be so much better…. to be used as… a foundation stone…???

I’m not trying to say that we need to trample all our achievements into the ground, but are we willing to give our best back to God for Him to do with it, whatever He wants to?

A previous post, The Vast Battle, was running through my mind as I was pondering on this.
Instead of trying to relive an old battle, can we see the new land we should be looking to take hold of?

So, are we willing to use our best achievements as a foundation to step into the new that God has for us to move into?

As I have been thinking about this, Philippians 3:12-14, has come to my mind.
¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Father,
Thank you that You do have new things for us to walk into.
Help us to keep our eyes on you, so that we can always follow your promptings.
Our Loving Father.
Amen.

In my last post I wrote about an idea being lost in with all the others and likened it to a grain of gold being lost in the Sahara desert, only I added an extra s, and the desert, then became, dessert.

Opps. So it made my picture effectively, looking for a grain of gold in the Sahara pudding. (Doh.)

Has anyone found any gold in their jelly and icecream recently?

The error has now been corrected. (Sorry for any who wanted to go looking for the error.)

When I wrote the last post I can remember looking at the word in question and thinking, is that correct? But I never properly checked it. I knew what I meant. So after after that point, every time I read it, I just saw Sahara desert, instead of the dessert that it was.

It took someone to point out the error to me, for me to notice it. (Thank you to the one who corrected me.)

My spelling error has got me thinking that, can we all be like this, at times?
Not the inability to spell, (a great asset if you are trying to write blog posts).
But can we all know that something isn’t quite right, but then convince ourselves that it is OK. Only to see the error (or not), when someone else points it out to us?

How will we react to something we have got wrong, when it is pointed out to us?
Will we deny the error. No, it is Sahara pudding and I’m right!!…???
Will we correct it it as quickly as possible, and then hope that no one else notices?
Or will we correct it, and then tell everyone about the error you made…. in another blog post???

Normally I try to opt for option 2, but every once in a while I might go for option 3. 🙂

So if you have got something wrong, and someone points this out to you, then how will you react?

One truth which I do think a lot of people get wrong, is that God is actually real!!!

He is our loving Father and wants to know us.

He wants us to ask Him into our lives, so that we can then know Him and have a relationship with Him.

I understand that some people do not agree with this viewpoint, but to me it is a truth.

How will you react to someone pointing this truth out to you?
Will you consider it to see if it could be true?
Or will you just take option 1, and tell me, “No, you are wrong and I’m right. It’s the Sahara Pudding, and that’s the end of it!”

The quote, “The truth is out there.” comes to mind.
So the question is…. Do you want to know the truth?
Are you open to the truth?
If you truly seek the truth, then you will find it.

Proverbs 8:17
I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

The Lord your God is waiting for you to seek Him.
Are you open to the idea of seeking Him?
Will you ask Him into your life, when He appears to you?

Father,
Thank you that You are real.
Thank you that you want to know us.
Thank you that you do call us to You.
Please help us all to see you that much better, so that we can all call on you.
Our Loving Father.
Amen.

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.

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.

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.