CARING, when it hurts

1 John 3:16-17 (message)

This is how we've come to understand and experience love:

Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.

If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

If God has called us to love others then there is a richness to discover in the process.

When God opens up our hearts it hurts – but play your part; and allow God to bring you through.

I promise the view from the top of the hill after the valley will be worth the journey.

“Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we shall soon see them in their proper figures”. – Joseph Addison (essayist, dramatist 1672-1719)

Don’t let the pain of yesterday steal the joy of tomorrow.

Stay the noble course and refuse to end up being defined by your circumstances – that is always your choice.

You don’t need to be thankful ‘for’ something, but you can stay thankful ‘in the midst’ of whatever challenge you find yourself.

‘What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognise it as such. – Henry Miller (author, writer 1891-1980)

This is the great call for Christ Followers – anyone can care when it is easy, when the pressure is on someone else.

But to care in the midst of the great challenges, the injustice, and the betrayal – that is divine.

Whatever you are going through – choose to keep going through and don’t stop!

Remember whatever life throws at you, you have a choice to be bitter or better – CHOOSE LIFE! 

RESILIENCE

WHY do some make it, while others seem to fall?

WHAT do I need to bounce back from a set back?

What are the keys to be adaptable but anchored, to be flexible but focused. We need RESILIENCE.

One definition of resilience is ... 

A process of positive adaptation despite adversity...

 - If it is a process then this means – YOU CAN LEARN IT.

RESILIENCE IS BUILT THROUGH PROBING THE BOUNDARIES OF YOUR EXPERIENCES.

Maybe you are not totally to blame for ending up where you are today, but you must understand that you are the only one who can keep you from moving forward.

Resilience is built from a foundation of taking responsibility.

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (CEB)

²⁶ So now this is how I run—not without a clear goal in sight.

I fight like a boxer in the ring, not like someone who is shadowboxing. 

²⁷ Rather, I’m landing punches on my own body and subduing it like a slave.

I do this to be sure that I myself won’t be disqualified after preaching to others.

What if the goal was not to always be looking for a way out of the struggle, but rather looking for the way through? Trouble always comes, tough times happen to us all, but we need to remind ourselves there is more in us and more for us.

We are not defined BY our circumstances, but to a large degree we are defined IN our circumstances – in other words, take another step, get up one more time, just keep breathing …. RESILIENCE is building, and you are becoming so much MORE.

I am currently doing a series on RESILIENCE and covering some ‘must have’ keys to building resilience and setting yourself up to overcome the pressures of life, to minimize stress, and limit anxiety. Grab hold of the 4 messages and get equipped to live life to the full.

BREAKTHROUGH

“Possessing your future changing somebody else’s is all dependent on what you do and what you will invest and give in the now!”

Ps. Mark Ramsey

Have a quick read through Matthew 25:14-28, the parable of the talents.

Too many people worrying about what they don’t have – rather than making the best use of what they do have!

People are so often so busy looking at what other people have, or what they want – they fail to see the way forward is to use what they already have!!

Opportunities aren’t lost; they are just given to somebody else.

God never asks us to do something we can’t do, or to give something we don’t have.

The question is always – what will you do with what you have?

If you want God to move you into your future, you will need to do something, give something in your present! Look at what you have – you do have time, you do have some gifts and talents, you do have a little treasure.

Everything we possess is a starting point for the future.

Whatever we have is enough to move us to another level.

Even though it seems a little – in His hands it can achieve much! What are you going to do with what God has blessed you with today?

Daddy's Girl

My daughter turned 18 the other day. I have been through this before with my son who is now nearly 20, but for some reason, this was different.

Maybe, it’s because there is something seriously wrong with this world – we objectify women and turn love into lust, desire into depravity, concern into coveting, and serving into selfishness. Our failing morality is at the cost of someone’s little girl ... how can this be?

Or, we expose them to a world they are not ready for, they grow up too early, expectations are unrealistic, standards are set by pop culture, and opinions shaped by the masses who are fickle at best.

Let me share a tiny portion of a letter I wrote to my little girl.

She is turning 18, oh wait, it has happened already, so soon,

I wasn’t ready.

I remember when you were so small, so dependent, so helpless,

You were looking out of those big beautiful eyes at a world before you, with wonder and amazement.

You embraced life from the start with a passion and zeal, you danced in the rain, you sang your own song, and ... you were my little girl.

Cheeky, but focused; playful but purposeful. Each new task, each new day an adventure. I watched you grow so quickly before my eyes.

... and then this at the end ...

So how do I feel? Happy, proud, sad, blessed, expectant, alone.

I only have one little girl and in my heart that will always be, but as I look; As I steal a glance there is a young woman standing where my little girl used to be.

Be that woman of God and leave a legacy that changes your world for the glory of God.

Dad’s go hug your sons, love your daughter’s. Mother’s don’t miss a moment to encourage, inspire and embrace them. For soon, so soon, they will be grown and you will hold your breath as they step out of the nest to fly. Pray you have done a good job, pray they are ready, pray they live a life that glorifies God and make a difference.

PRAYER

Here are a few thoughts on prayer / great to reflect upon.

Prayer is more than simply communicating. It is more than the dictionary meaning or the frail understanding of humanity.

Prayer rises through the defiant lips of the one who stands in the gap for breakthrough. It shouts with declarations of faith and victory in the midst of overwhelming odds.

Prayer whispers in the recesses of emotion of what could be, if only.

Prayer bubbles out in the tumult of sorrow that threatens to engulf. Not always manifested by cleverly constructed phrases, but at times evidenced by groaning and unknown words from the breaking soul.

Prayer grows in the background conscience of the one caught in a web of their own destruction, as they desperately try to navigate through the closing darkness. No longer to be contained it seeps through in simplicity as a cry from the lost soul to a known or unknown creator.

Prayer celebrates the journey and petitions for the path untravelled. It rises around to bring hope and comfort, direction and clarity.

Prayer shows us what is and what could be, it opens us to another perspective and reveals us as we really are. It strips down the layers and builds up wholeness.

Prayer is breathing out the cares and distractions of this world and breathing in the grace and peace of God.

BEING RIGHT IS SO OVER-RATED

1 Timothy 6:11

But you man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Question.

Is there a difference between being RIGHT & being RIGHTEOUS?

Where we go wrong is when we treat our preference as a principle. It seems like a principle, maybe it is even a conviction for you, but it could still be a preference.

Maturity is when you get a tiny inkling in the back of your mind that there is the smallest possibility, no matter how unlikely, that you just could in fact potentially be wrong / or not know quite as much as you were sure you knew before.

Perhaps there is more to learn.

More than being right, I want to be known as one who pursues righteousness.

Right is all about you

Righteous is all about God

Would you choose the CROSS?

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs. - Vance Hayner

1. YOU have to go UP.

God was constantly ticked at the Israelites because of the images set UP at the high places.

Look at the High places that we SET UP in our lives - possessions, work, hobbies, habits; actually anything that comes between us & God can be a high place – spouses, children, even ministry!

We need to make a conscious decision to shake off all the extra stuff if we want to go UP.

2. What are you lifting UP?

John 12:32

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

John 8:28

So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

There is a double meaning hidden in here – YES this speaks of the crucifixion but it is so much more than that – we need to be Lifting Jesus UP!

Sometimes we tend to LIFT UP our problems more than our solutions.

It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. - M. Scott Peck

3. Time to TAKE UP the CROSS.

The image of the cross is discernable in every area of Christianity.

Most of us have a cross – we where it as jewellery, as a token of our faith. I know for most of us we don’t want to belittle it – but the reality is we don’t understand the cross like it was ….

Jesus’ life was dominated by the CROSS – it was His noble pursuit.

Many people interpret the cross as ‘a burden to bear, a challenge to overcome, or a part of life they just have to press through. Most Christians would view the cross as a symbol of atonement, forgiveness and grace.

BUT … make no mistake that is not what the Disciples thought … to a person in the 1st century the cross meant only one thing: death by the most painful and humiliating means human beings could develop.

Taking up the cross meant torture

Taking up the cross meant certain death

Taking up the cross meant humiliation

And none of this was symbolic or to be avoided. Once the cross was on your shoulders there was only one outcome.

Would you choose the cross?

It is said of the missionaries of the 19th century, embarking on missions overseas, that they often packed their belongs in a coffin instead of a trunk so they would have something to be buried in. They never expected to return.

Would you choose the cross?

The cross is painful / no pain no gain.

The cross is certain death / dying to ourselves every day. More than a decision made at an altar call.

The cross in external & internal / it demands sacrifice.

Would you choose the cross?