Tag: Jesus

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Are we willing to be challenged?

This a thought that came to me one morning.
Are we willing to be challenged?

If we are happy and content, then facing a challenge might be the last thing we want.

But what if the challenge is from God, our Father in heaven, the Lord God Almighty?

Are we willing to be challenged by Him?
And how often or how many times are we willing to be challenged by Him?

As I came down thinking this, I checked my emails and, in one was two scriptures.

Philippians 3:13-14

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 towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:7-8

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

It a appears to me that Paul was willing to face a challenge or two. 🙂

I think that I am someone who is open to being challenged, even if I don’t like it. On the outside I probably look very hostile to any kind of challenges. But on the inside I do try to consider what is being said to me.
I do believe that there is a small part of me that actively wants to be challenged, to be made better. I’d like to think that it is a part of me that is echoing what Paul wrote in the scriptures above. (I do hope that it isn’t just me wanting everything to be just so. 🙂 )

I do also believe that Father wants us to know His rest.
He does, after all, say to us, in 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.”

But, even in this scripture about rest, Father is also telling us to take His yoke upon us. A yoke speaks of work, or a challenge that Father is placing before us.

So are we willing to be challenged?
More importantly, are we willing to be challenged by Father?
Will we run from His challenges or will we embrace them, knowing that He has a good work to do in or through us?

Father,
Help me to always hear Your words to me.
Help me to hear Your words that much more clearly that I might be trying to ignore.
Help me to be always willing to follow Your way.
Amen.

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How can we help those who don’t want help?

In my last post I effectively wrote about how we can try to help, but instead just shake things up a bit.
In this weeks post I will try to offer a picture/advice about how to help someone who is in need but doesn’t know how to, or doesn’t want to ask for help.
I have been in this position, so hopefully I can share something that might help somebody.

I think that a good place to start is a picture.
The thought that came to me was one of those videos that can be seen online, where an animal has caught itself in something and can’t get free.
Then the brave hero comes to set it free.

The animal I’m thinking of is a deer with it’s antlers caught in a fence made of a netting material.
The deer is wanting to break free, but it is helplessly caught in the fence and is becoming very distressed.

When the hero approaches the deer, he does so slowly and calmly.
The deer may well not understand a word the hero says, but he can still use his voice in a calm way in order to try to put the deer at ease, as much as he can.

There is so much to be said about this first bit alone.

Some of my thoughts are, the hero needs to have a calm way about them.
If they are frustrated, then they could very easily bring that frustration into a already tense situation, and then just add fuel to the fire.
If we have frustrations with us, then endeavour to leave those frustrations outside of our helping the deer.
If we can’t do that, then leave the task for someone who can.

As you approach the deer, how you act communicates to the deer how calm you are.
If you approach in a brash manner, then you are only going to scare it that much more. It’s the same with people.
Sometimes humour can be used to lighten the situation but sometimes it can be adding fuel to a fire. Use wisdom (Fathers wisdom is best) if you use humour.

The calmness that is shown to the deer needs to be genuine.
If you are tense or there is a falseness in your calm then it is likely to be passed onto the deer.
I have seen a program where dogs are behaving badly. Sometimes the reason for this is because the owner is tense and the dog picks up on this and then acts badly.
The same principle could occur when coming close to someone who is hurting, so do try to have a peace that is genuine.
A peace from God, would be good to have.

If you dwell on this first part with Father, then He could possibly speak the thing you need to know, for where you are, better than anything I can type here.

As the Hero gets closer to the deer, he then tries to make a connection with the deer.
He just tries to pat the deer and reassure it, that he means no harm.
He doesn’t just try to cut the netting free.
Making a connection with people is so important.
A friend is more likely to be listened to rather than a stranger who just waltzes in and tries to do what is needed.
The stranger who just waltzes in is only likely to be hurt with one of those antlers and do no good in the process of trying to help.

As the hero gets closer to the head, he looks closely at what the situation is before making any cuts to the netting. He is not in a rush to cut the netting away.
Try to use all your senses to appraise what is going on.
Ears that are open to Father’s words and prompts are going to be your best asset.

Sometimes a second person comes along to help the hero.

You don’t have to do it all on your own!
Ask others for help and support if you need it.

Not everyone needs to be in the trenches with you though.
One or a few people in the thick of things could help. But beware, too many cooks could spoil the brew.

Many people could pray for you, the deer, the situation or wherever Father leads you/them to pray, but not everyone needs to know everything.
Use wisdom with what is shared.
Don’t feel that everyone needs to know everything just so that they can pray better. Father knows it all already.
Nobody likes the thought that they are the talk of the town.
If you think prayer is needed (which it probably is) then ask what can be shared, if it is appropriate to do so.

At some point the deer is wrestled to the ground and subdued in order to set it free.
No, I’m not going to suggest you wrestle the hurt/needy one to the ground.
However, at some point you might need to say or do something that is uncomfortable.
Use wisdom (Fathers wisdom, again, is best).
Try to ensure that love is at the core of your actions and not frustration.
Sometimes, things do just need to be said or done.
Expect to feel some resistance when doing this and try to not take offence from the others reactions.

When the deer is finally set free it just runs off into the distance.
Sometimes, when you have helped someone, they might just walk or run away.

Do your best to not take offense at this.
Instead be happy and joyful that you have helped someone in need.
Father sees your actions and if you have helped someone, then He will be pleased with you.
Father being pleased with us should be enough.

Hopefully the one you help will be able to say thank you, but don’t expect it. A thank you might come in time or it might not.
Look to Father to ask if you have done ok, and then let what He says to you be enough.

I think that is the end of me drawing lessons from the picture.
Father could add just what you need to hear if you will seek Him for His wisdom.

I would like to add a couple more things.

When you are in times of trouble, the one thing you need most is just simply a good friend.
A good friend who prayed with me and invited me to dinner on a regular basis was a great help to me when I was in need.

In my time of need the one thing I didn’t want was to be someone’s project.
This might be why I was not so inclined to share.
Although at the time I didn’t know (mostly) what to share or ask for in terms of help.

Whatever you do, try to let love be your driving force.
If you are trying to help from any other driving force then you might or might not be a help. If love is your main driving force, then hopefully Father will be guiding your steps.

If Father is leading and guiding you, then expect a break through.
For with Fathers help, all things are possible.

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A Modern Day Plank in the Eye

This is going to be one of those posts which goes into the slightly crazy realm.
But when you think about it, the idea of having a plank in your eye is a bit crazy to start off with, so it looks like I’m in good company. 🙂

The intention of this is to bless and not to cause offense.
The plank in the eye picture, told by Jesus, (Matthew 7: 3-5) was basically saying, you fool, just look at what you are doing.
This post goes along the same lines.

When I look back at my own actions I can see that I have, at times, taken on the place of the fool. This is because I have been one of those well intentioned idiots (That the church can sometimes be so full of 🙂 ).
Being well intentioned is great, now if we can only add some wisdom to the mix, then we could have a church filled with well intentioned wise people.
What a thought that is. I pray that Father will speak to you through this.

A man was walking through a park, having a good day. The sun was shining and all seemed well.

As he walked around the corner he came across another man who was lying on the floor.

This man was in a bad way though.
He had clearly been attacked and was in need of urgent help.

The first man on seeing this, thought to himself, I must help this man who is so clearly in need.

So he went to the man in need and asked him, “Sir, please tell me, what can I do to help you?”

The man in need just wanted to be left alone, so he just tried to ignore him.

But the first man would have none of it.
So he shook the man in need and insisted, “Sir, I can clearly see that you are in need, so you must tell me, what can I do to help you.”

The man in need still just wanted to be left alone, but instead said, “Well, I am a bit thirsty. If you could get me a drink of tea, then that could be nice. I have some money in my pocket and there is a tea shop just around the corner.”

This made the first man very happy. He took the money and he went off and bought the tea and gave it to the man in need.

The man in need thanked the first man and sent him on his way, relieved that he was finally leaving him alone.

The first man walked away happy, feeling good about himself.
He thought, that man was in need. I asked him what he wanted and he told me, and then I went and got it for him. I was a help to that man.

How silly of that first man.
He didn’t help the man in need.
An ambulance was clearly needed for the man in need, not a cup of tea.

In our churches, can we be like the first man?

Can we see people who are in need, but not know what is needed to help them.
Can we then go up go these people and metaphorically shake them and ask, “What can I do to help you?”

What the first man should have done is call for help by calling for an ambulance.
Shouldn’t we be metaphorically calling for an ambulance?
Shouldn’t we be putting a call into Father to ask for guidance and help instead of asking the hurt one, what can I do to help you.

Sometimes, the hurt one might be able to say, “Are you crazy, call for an ambulance.” But sometimes the hurt one might just want to be left alone, even though it is doing them no good.

I once shared this picture with a friend, although it was probably in a more garbled fashion.
The response I got was that I was asking for the impossible and expecting people to be able to read minds.
In the human realm this could be a valid point. After all, how is anyone meant to know what is going on unless they are told.
But I am not looking for human strength.
No, I am looking for what is possible with Father invited to the party.

I’m not looking for the impossible but for the Him Possible.
The Him being Our Lord God Almighty.

If we can bring Father into the mix, then the impossible does indeed become Him Possible!

Father is our ultimate help line.
Father is the one we need to be connecting with in order to obtain the answers for what is needed.

Can we seek Father and his will, in order to be a true blessing to those who are in need?

Father,
Please help us to look to You in all things.
Sometimes we can see where something is wrong and help is needed but we don’t have the answers for what is needed.
In them times, then please help us to look to You that much more.
Help us to bring relief to situations instead of just shaking things up.
You are the One who can lead and guide us so please help us to be quick to look to You, and to follow Your lead.
Thank you that You are there to help us.
Amen.

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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.