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..be holy, because I am holy.  Leviticus 11:45

I’ve had a song in my heart this week, its the worship song that goes “I want to be Holy, set apart for you Lord Jesus, ready to do your will“. While I was painting wood in the garden this week I started pondering on the words and whether I really meant what I was singing.

Do I really want to be holy, above all else? Do I really want to be set apart – not of the world – choosing not to follow worldly desires and what culture tells me I should act like?  To live my life totally as God wants me to? Am I ready to do God’s will, rather than my own? Am I prepared to make the sacrifice of being holy; of obeying Christ in all things; of giving up my selfish, sinful ways for holy and selfless living?

I thought about this for a while and searched my heart and I found that actually yes, in my heart, I do desire to be holy and obedient to God’s will. This is not because of me, it is because God has done a work in me by His Spirit, and changed my sinful heart.  Yet in practice this is not so simple! As you will know well, there’s still a real daily battle with the flesh and the world, pulling us away from actually doing what our hearts wants to do! (Read Romans 7:18-25, Paul comments on this very thing!)

So what is being holy? To put it simply, it means being like God in our hearts and in our actions. It means keeping ourselves “from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27) and above all, loving God and putting him first (Mark 12:30). It’s so important to God that He even called us to be holy & set us apart before the world was created! (1 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 1:4) He commands us to be holy because He Himself is holy (Leviticus 11:45)  and because when we live holy lives, we show Jesus to the world! Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 ..Quite a challenging verse there from Hebrews.

How do we do it? I think Adam’s series on progressive sanctification is really helpful here! Go and read it if you haven’t done already! It’s a process, but loving and relying on God more and more is the only way we can truly live holy lives. We cannot do it just by willpower, as we will either fail miserably or, if we start to think we’re getting “good” at being holy, we become arrogant, prideful and can often start judging others – then (hopefully) we realise we are not being holy at all!!

I think the “ready to do God’s will” statement is also a thing is key. God would never ask us to do anything that was sinful, instead he points us in the direction of holiness, by the Holy Spirit living in us (and he always has the best plan for our lives!) Often God will prompt us on something that he wants us to change, so that we can be more holy, and sometimes we can be quite slow to respond. We try to justify it to ourselves, as it’s so hard to change ways of acting/living/thinking or even a relationship that is unhealthy, so we think it’s just never going to be possible or we come up with the age-old excuse that “now is not the right time”. Yet if God is prompting us, who are we to tell him he’s got the timing wrong, or he doesn’t’ realise how hard it is?! The sooner we obey, the sooner He can step in and give us the power to overcome! It’s a joint effort, but it starts with us being obedient to God’s will, no matter what we think the consequences/cost might be.

Father God I pray that you would help us to be holy.  Help us fight the temptations of the flesh and the ways of the world, in order to be set apart for you. I pray that we would be ready and willing to do your will as soon as you prompt us, so that we may become more holy and the world would see Jesus through us. Amen.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

Isaiah 40:25-31

25 "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

Putting God in a box is something we all do well! God according to our own point of view, God according our own limited experience, God according to our way of thinking. Yet God is God! He’s so much greater that we could ever imagine! We cannot compare him to anyone or anything on this earth. All things are created by God. How then can we attempt to compare God to anything we know? (v25)

We just have to look up at night and see the stars, knowing that God made each one and calls each one by name! This makes us realise how very very small we are and how very very big God is! (v26)

Yet we seem to think sometimes that God’s sole purpose is to make us happy. To answer every prayer, to take away our grumpiness, and that this “Christianity thing” is all about us and what it means for us. When we think like this we totally miss the point. Yes Jesus died for us – for our sins – so that we may be given the gift of eternal life, but he did this because he wanted to display his amazing love, to bring glory to God and to show how perfect he is (and how in need of a saviour we are!!) It’s all about God – so that we may give him the Praise and Glory he deserves! There’s nothing wrong with knowing the truth that God, the creator of the universe, loves you and me personally and wants to be in relationship with us, but we should never lose sight of what an awesome, eternal, powerful God we serve and the fear (respect) of God that this knowledge should bring us.

I have bad times and sometimes I ask God “why is this happening?” just like v27 where God’s people complain and say that God has disregarded them. But what I (we) need to realise is this…now brace yourself as this may come as a shock!… the world does not revolve around us!! God’s way are not our ways(1) He has a bigger purpose and a bigger plan than we could ever imagine! “His understanding no-one could fathom” – we’re not supposed to understand everything! Yet we spend so much time and energy trying to fathom God – wondering “why is God doing this?” Instead of simply trusting him because he is God! We should know that he has a plan for us (2) and that He is good (3) and He is faithful(4) and He is just (5) and He is loving(6). Therefore no matter what circumstances we are going through or however we feel about things, “God is the everlasting God” (v28) and it’s His Will that we should be honouring,(7) and it’s our faith that we should be exercising(8), rather than using all our energy trying to work out why!(9)

Our view of God effects how we live our lives. If our view is too small or if we do not trust his word, or believe him to be the faithful and just God he says he is, then this effects how easily we are shaken by the circumstances that we face and how “up and down” our relationship with God is. As we get a truer view of God, through his Word and through trusting what His word says, our view of our lives and circumstances also changes. We will slowly stop looking at our selves, and start looking up to our Creator. We will be at peace with not understanding everything, because we know that God is God, yet he loves each one of us and promises to be with us!(10)

How great is God—beyond our understanding! Job 36:26

1) Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

2) Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

3) Mark 10:18 "No one is good—except God alone.

4) Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands

5) Psalm 33:4-6 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love

6) Psalm 145:13: The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made / 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. / Psalm 136:2: Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

7) Just like Jesus prayed : “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42

James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

9) Ecclesiastes 8:17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.

10) Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, "How long has he been like this?"

"From childhood," he answered. 22 "It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

23 " ‘If you can’?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"    Mark 9:21-24

Every Christian believes, we believe in God and we believe in Jesus for our salvation.  If we didn’t then we wouldn’t be Christians. Yet these key foundational beliefs don’t stop us from battling with unbelief in other areas of our faith.  Like this chap who said to Jesus "if you can…" don’t we all sometimes approach prayer/requests to God like that?

Perhaps we’re not as obvious as saying "if you can" to God. I think we often mask our unbelief behind "if it’s your will" or "in your timing Lord…" but quite often, when it boils down to it, we lack the belief that God will do what he says He will in His word when we trust in Him.

When faced with opportunities to step out for his glory or to believe a promise he has given us through his word, we often have the battle between our belief and our unbelief. The two things wage a mini war inside of us. It’s often easier to believe what we see/feel, rather than what God says is true.

For example, if we get the opportunity to pray for someone to be healed, and perhaps it’s a person with a serious disability… What do we think?

Option 1) God heals. Jesus healed & the disciples healed and Jesus has also given me authority to heal. I believe God’s word and I believe that when I lay my hands on this person they will be healed.

Option 2) Eeek, what will happen if God doesn’t show up?

I think most of us are probably somewhere in between; believing that God can and does heal, but not necessarily believing that he will heal on this particular occasion. That bit is the unbelief we need to tackle. The disciples didn’t start a prayer of healing with "dear God, if it’s your will please heal this person" they just went up to them and said "be healed in Jesus name." They were certain that it was God’s will to heal. That’s what Jesus had sent them to do. I know this really hard and it brings up so many difficult questions, and I can’t explain why some people get healed and others don’t, but I do think God wants us to believe that He will heal, each and every time we pray for someone. To not entertain the unbelief that God might not show up, or that the timing is wrong etc. as this is a slippery slope to more and more unbelief.

Therefore as a starting point I think we all need to acknowledge to God (and perhaps ourselves) that we do have unbelief  "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief." Humbly admitting that it’s our problem, not God’s and to trust Jesus when he says  "everything is possible for those who believe".  I don’t think it’s about not having enough faith – faith is a gift from God and he’s given us all we need (we only need faith as big as mustard seed according to Jesus*). I think it’s more about still allowing unbelief to have its say.

"I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief." Such an honest, real prayer. It’s saying, "God I do believe in you, I do believe that you heal, but I know that mixed in with my belief is also unbelief. Therefore please help me deal with this unbelief so that I can overcome it”

Please understand that I’m not just talking about healing here, this basic principle covers so many areas of our walk with God. There are many more places where we allow unbelief to live alongside belief. Things like knowing who we are in Christ - We can believe our salvation, but sometimes not that we are totally new creations; this unbelief opens us up to falling back into our old ways of life. We believe that God is all powerful – but don’t quite believe that he’s won the victory over satan’s power, so we allow ourselves to fall back into believing that we haven’t got the victory over sin, and we fall into temptation, sin and fear through not standing firm on what Christ has already completed on our behalf. We believe the word which says that God is our provider - but do we believe he will provide for us when we’re at the end of our resources and we can’t see how He will do it? We believe that God has good plans for us because his word says so - but when things don’t happen in our timing, do we try to take over and make things happen ourselves, revealing our unbelief, thinking that perhaps God’s not going to come through for us on this one! Perhaps it’s something else, like believing we are saved but not quite believing we can be totally clean and righteous in God’s eyes. Believing we are loved, but that this is conditional on us doing this and not doing that… Putting our own small print on God’s word, on his promises and on who He says He is and who we are in Him.

Some of you could be thinking "that’s not me, I trust God totally for everything" and others may be saying "unbelief is just a part of life and we’re human so we’re always going to be like it" But I believe that God wants to challenge each one of us, and help us to identify and sift out those areas of unbelief in our lives, so that we can be more powerful and effective for him.

We all have growing to do and we all need to say to God "I believe, help me overcome my unbelief." If we settle for lives that are not trusting God 100% in all things, then we will give a lukewarm message about a moderately powerful, sometimes caring God to a world that so desperately needs to see the real Jesus!  If, however, we choose to trust what the bible says about who God is, who Jesus is and who we are in Christ, and ask God to help us in the areas where we still hold onto unbelief, then our message will be powerful! People will see God’s glory and love through his people, and we will see God’s kingdom come in our own lives, and in the lives of others.

Want to know more? Check out a previous study of mine "What do you know" which talks about needing to know God’s word so that we can stand firm in his truth. This is key because if we don’t know God’s word, how do we know what to believe?

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”- Deuteronomy 7:9

“God is God” – He rules & reigns over everything!!

God is “the faithful God” – we can trust him to never let us down

God “[keeps] his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his command” – he’s not ever going to turn his back on us or break any of his promises. He loves us and offers us salvation when we turn to him for forgiveness and choose to follow his ways.

Praise God that he is a Faithful, loving God who doesn’t change according to feelings and circumstances like we do. Praise God that he has promised us good things and that he will never let us down! Praise God that he has authority and power over all things and nothing is impossible for him!!

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.“ Mark 10:27

So if you are facing something which feels like an impossible circumstance or situation, !remember! – God IS God, God IS faithful, God loves you and will help you. With God all things are possible – even those that seem impossible for us.

Hold onto this truth and don’t give up asking God to help you, guide you and give you strength!

Salt and Light

13″You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14″You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:13-16

Salt

We (as Christians) are the Salt of the earth. This means that we should be flavouring (or perhaps we could use the word “influencing”) the world God has put us in.

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Mark 9:50 (NLT) says “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavour, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”

Salt has healing qualities, it seasons & brings out good flavours, it’s gritty and stops people falling in the ice! Salt has many uses – it’s used as a preservative for meat where there’s no refrigeration, stopping things from going bad. And that’s what Jesus is calling us to do – we should be bringing out good flavours in the world around us, bringing healing, helping people not to fall, and bringing goodness and purity into a world that can be very rotten. We can be salt in our actions & in our words. Praise God that he has made us to be salt and that he helps and guides us and sets us apart to live lives that are so different to the rest of the world, that people can see Him through us! Praise God for our saltiness!

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There is also a warning in the passage – we need to be careful that living in the world doesn’t take away our “saltiness.” We must remain pure so that God can continue to use us as his witnesses, to be a blessing to others and to have a positive impact on the world around us.

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How salty are you? Are you using your saltiness in the situations & places that God has put you in, or are you allowing the world to rob you of your saltiness?

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Light

Jesus has given us His light, we can only be light because of His light shining through us. Jesus tells us to shine in the darkness!! We are not to hide, but to live out the gospel so that everyone around us can see the difference Christ has made in our lives! Then people will give the praise and the glory back to God!

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Ephesians 5:8 (NIV) says “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)”

God has set us free from darkness to live as children of light! The verse uses the words “goodness, righteousness & truth ” to describe what it is to be living as children of light. Would you use these words to describe the way you live? Ask God to help you to be even more of a light in your workplace, in your family and amongst your friends! Ask him to help you live each day as a child of light!

Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (AMP)

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24

OK so this is a hard topic! I’m going to approach it on a very simple level and hope that I don’t upset anyone in the process. Please have lots of grace when you read my thoughts on this! This all started on Sunday morning with a conversation about healing and how we (as Christians) can totally believe God for our salvation, but can struggle to believe God for our healing.

My simplistic view is that God created the world and he created it perfect, therefore his plan was for us all to be in full health. Sin came into the world through us disobeying God… enter sickness and disease etc as part of the fallen world.

Enter Jesus. He came as a man and died for us to so that “whoever believes in him” shall not perish, but have eternal life.1) In Isaiah 53 the prophet wrote about the Messiah who was to come & take our sins, Isaiah says that Jesus “took up our infirmities” 2) and that “by his wounds we are healed” 3)

So if our sickness was also nailed to the cross, along with our sins, why do we not regularly see healing today like we saw in Jesus’ time? Jesus told us that anyone who had faith in Him will do “greater things” than he did 4) …and he did A LOT of healing!

I think maybe some of it has to do with our understanding, and thus our authority over sickness. We know in our hearts that by Jesus’ blood we have been saved. This word “saved” to most of us means that we have been forgiven our sins, washed clean, and are now able to approach God through Jesus’ righteousness. That when we die our sins won’t be counted against us, so we no longer have to face death, but are able to have eternal life in heaven. “Saved” to us relates to being forgiven of our sins, yet the Greek word “Sozo” means even more than this! It means being saved from our sins, plus things like “rescued” “delivered” “kept safe” “preserved” “healed.” It implies completeness, being made well in the full sense, not just our souls, our whole self.

So if we believe Jesus died for us and have accepted Him as Lord over our lives, then we will receive “Sozo” – forgiveness from our sins as well as complete wholeness in Christ. He didn’t do half a job on the cross, his death & resurrection changed everything. As it says in Isaiah 53 “He took up our infirmities, and carried our sorrows…. he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

You can be saved on a certain day when you gave your life to Christ, but wholeness is a process and something we have to receive everyday. Like when we go back to Jesus to say sorry again for the things we have done, we have to keep going back to Jesus to receive physical and emotional healing, we live in a fallen world and so we have to hold on to the promises of God and keep seeking him for the things he has promised us. Jesus is alive and with God right now, interceding for us so that we can be saved to the “uttermost.” 5) Jesus’ death on the cross has won the war, but whilst we are on the earth we are still fighting a battle against sin, sickness and the lies of the enemy (with Jesus’ help of course!)

I think what I am saying is that it’s not just “if I try hard enough to believe then God will heal me” The verse in Mark 11 could make us feel that it’s our fault and we just don’t believe enough. But perhaps it’s about a deeper knowledge and understanding of God’s word, which will then enable us to believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth). This thorough understanding of God’s word will help us claim what is rightfully ours, rather than ignoring our questions/doubts and “trying harder” to believe. If we knew that we were praying God’s will, and for things we have a right to through the blood of Jesus, then we would believe all the more that He will give us what we ask for. We beat ourselves up about our lack of faith, but I think it’s our lack of knowledge we should be more concerned about.

1) John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life

2) Isaiah 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities, and carried our sorrows,

3) Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

4) John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

5) Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Last week I talked about blessings and persecution. I felt like there was more to say on this, so this week I wanted to look at the fact that we are all blessed with wealth, but with this comes responsibility to give, as well as difficulties with staying on track with God.

Mark 10:24-25
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Do you know what? This passage scares me a bit! Do you know why? Because in the world’s eyes I’m rich, VERY rich. I have a house, running water, electricity, gas. I can afford to go on holiday and I have spare money which I can use to buy most things that I want. Okay I’m not a celeb, I don’t live in a huge house, or have several cars or a holiday home on an island somewhere (or whatever your view of being rich is!) but I know I am rich. (Note: I’m not being all "Christian" here, I’m not saying I’m rich meaning in "spiritual gifts and blessings" I mean money, stuff, possessions, cash.) So when Jesus said this verse to his disciples, I believe he was also talking directly to me (ooo-er missus!)

Jesus is talking about how hard it is for a rich man (or woman!) to enter heaven. It’s because when we have a lot, we have a lot to lose. Our security can often be in the money/house/savings/family connections rather than in God. Jesus knew that we wealthy people would have a battle on their hands to remain humble and to still seek God in everything and rely on God for everything.

When we get these good jobs, nice houses and all the trappings, we can start to feel that we did it in our own strength and we don’t need to rely on God so much. That’s a dangerous state to be in, as the devil can get in and start to make us proud, encourage us to hoard our wealth and tell us that it’s ours and we have earned it so we can do whatever we want with it… Which is kind of true, we do have free will, but we need to acknowledge that it’s all God’s anyway and he wants us to want to help others with it! If we don’t want to help the poor/needy then is our heart really after God?1

Jesus knew we would have trouble because we are prone to taking our homes and jobs and lifestyles for granted, and not only that, to be always looking to the person who has more than us and never being satisfied. Our lives being eaten up by wanting the next gadget, the bigger house, the better job.. And God would get pushed to the sidelines as we seek all these things above knowing Him, serving Him and following the path he has set out for us. He knows the things that turn our heads away from Him – and the main one is money! Just look at the chap in the verse before "He went away sad, because he had great wealth." His wealth had a hold on him because he was rich, and Jesus saw this was his "thing" the thing that would turn his head from following God completely.

Having wealth, health and popularity can often cause us many more problems in our walk with God than poverty, sickness and loneliness because its in our times of need that we realise we are so dependant on God and so we lean on Him more, but in our times of plenty we can wander away from him believing we can do everything on our own, and ultimately sacrifice our faith.

God blesses us lots, he does! In many ways! He gives us all we need and more! But best of all, he gives those of us who have lots in this world, lots of opportunities to give lots to those who don’t have lots in this world!! Get your head around that!!

This is a challenge. There’s so much need in the world that I could get to thinking that I just can’t make a big enough difference. Yet at the same time, just giving what I’ve got to one or two things will make a big difference to those people. I cannot use the excuse that "it won’t make a difference" God didn’t ask me to "make a huge impact on the poverty in Africa or in Swindon" but he has said to us all to "give to the poor2" "help the needy3" and if we all did that in any way that we could, we would together make a much bigger difference.

By seizing every opportunity to give we are showing to the world (and ourselves) that God comes before our wealth and that money and possessions don’t have a hold over us. We are also showing that we trust in God for our provision. The bible says that when we give to the poor we will lack nothing.4 Also when we enter the Kingdom of God we will know that we lived lives which reflected God’s love to others, showing that we trusted God for our life on earth as well as our eternity in heaven. Plus we’ll meet loads of people in heaven that we helped along the way – friends for eternity!

1) If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 1John 3:17

2) Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33

3) He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Proverbs 14:31

4) He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses. Proverbs 28:27

Mark 10:29-30
29 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”

I think the interesting thing about this verse is that Jesus says “in this present age” which to me implies, in our lifetime, whilst we are still on earth, not just when we go to heaven. That God will give back the things we sacrifice for him not just as rewards in heaven, but whilst we are still on the earth. Not only that, he will give them back with lots of interest!! We are often taught that we won’t necessarily be given back what we have sacrificed whilst we are here on earth, but does this verse suggest that we will, even if it’s not the exact same things as we give up? (as well as being given eternal life) Interesting…!

I find this a challenging verse to take hold of!! Note the little (but very important) comment in the brackets “and with them, persecutions..” You what?!?!

Why would we be given persecutions with our blessings? Why would God give us back more than what we have given up, only to then allow us to be persecuted?? What’s that all about?! I don’t know the answers, but here are some of my ponderings…

I think Jesus wanted to warn people that being a follower of Him meant that times were going to be tough, that we were not in for an easy ride. He also wasn’t going to want people to follow him because they thought were going to get wealth and prosperity by giving up what they had at that time, in order to get more in the future!! Ever since Jesus came, Christians have been persecuted, poor John the Baptist got his head chopped off, Jesus was (of course) crucified and all the other disciples were persecuted and many ended up being killed because of their faith. In many countries today people still suffer greatly for following Jesus, yet through the suffering they have a greater faith and see God move in power so much more.

Here we have it pretty easy. We might get laughed at a little or at the worst we might get in trouble for wearing a cross to work, but when you look at what the disciples went through it’s really not much to write home about. Yet when we do step out and be counted as followers of Christ, it is likely that the more “different” we are, the more persecutions we will have to face, and yet I believe, the more “blessings” God will give us as we sacrifice our pride, our popularity, our comfort, our finances, our time and perhaps even our friends or family who turn against us because they just can’t understand why we are Christians.

Perhaps when we give up things for God, He then blesses us with more because he knows he can trust us with it? Yet at the same time this is a test of our faith as we need to remain in Him, leaning on Him for everything and acknowledging openly that it is God who’s blessed us with everything we’ve got. We must not allow ourselves to become proud or lovers of the blessings rather than the Blessor! We can’t fall into the trap of believing that we’ve earned what we’ve got and have a right to the things that we own, or to popularity or our comforts. They are not a “right” they are a blessing. We always need to remember this and to stand firm and be faithful to God, continuing to Praise Him and acknowledge Him no matter what people say about us or do to us!

In all things, whether it’s a time of sacrifice, or a time of blessing, there will always be decisions which end up as a choice between God & “my….” (fill in the blank; pride, rights, money, comfort, family, reputation, feelings.. etc etc). The only way we can stay on track, whether in need or in plenty, is to keep our focus on Jesus at all times. Then whatever persecution (or blessing!!) comes our way, we will be able to stand firm and remain faithful and thankful to God!

Mark 2:17 : It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners.

I just wanted to simply remind people of this verse. I’m not sure why. Perhaps there’s some of us who are feeling that we aren’t good enough for God, or that we keep messing up? If so, you need to be reminded that, although God’s desire is for us to be perfect, Jesus came and died for us sinners. Perhaps there’s some of us who are feeling righteous and “better” than others? If so, you need to remember that, even if you may be comparing yourself to others and coming out “on top,” actually if you compare yourself to the perfectness of Jesus, you’ve also fallen a long way short!

So lets not judge for ourselves who God wants in His kingdom, or who “fits” or doesn’t fit into His church. That’s up to God and I know that Jesus loves to forgive anyone who turns to him, no matter what they’ve done and what they are struggling with… You know the phrase – “Jesus, friend of sinners”

And lets not judge ourselves too harshly either, or write ourselves out of the script. If you know you are a sinner, but have chosen to turn and follow God, and if you believe that Jesus died for you and rose again, then you are forgiven – you qualify!

It goes without saying that as Christians we should strive (with God’s help) to mature in our faith and live to please God – to follow the ways that Jesus set out for us. If we are choosing all the time to turn away from God then we will be disciplined. However, we live by Grace and if we sin, but turn back to God in repentance, then the slate is wiped clean with the blood of Jesus.

Praise God that Jesus came for us sinners!!

Praise God that I know I’m a sinner – knowing who we are and what God has done is the best ever starting place. Then we can follow Jesus with thankful, humble hearts knowing that it’s all about HIM and what He’s done! (and not about us and what we’ve done…)

Big it up for the big J.C.!

Mark 14:35-36 (New Living Translation)
He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

When you became a Christian did you think that life was about to get much easier? How long did it take you to realise that wasn’t any way near to being true?! Following God’s way isn’t easy, it can be a struggle and it can hurt sometimes. Yes, God has promised us so many good things, but he hasn’t promised us an easy ride. We have the amazing promise of Eternal Life with him, of gifts that we can use for his Glory and of Fruit if we follow his ways, but there is always a cost. We must choose to give up our selfish ways and our “I’ll do it my way” attitudes and to humbly follow God’s path and choose to go his way, even if it’s hard, scary or painful.

If we want a perfect example of this, just look at Jesus. It wasn’t easy for him to follow his father’s will for his life on Earth, he was fully man as well as fully God; he felt pain, he was tempted, he felt tired, he was laughed at, he was disappointed and I’m sure he struggled with the things he was given to do. We must not forget that although Jesus is God, he was also a man. The passage above shows his humanity. “He cried out” to God “Please take this cup of suffering away from me.” He wanted to be spared of having to go through the horrific death on the cross, yet he choose to say through his anguish “I want your will to be done, not mine.”

There are some things that God asks us to do which we can easily say yes to, but there are going to be, and probably already have been, things in your life where you’ve said to God “this is hard, it hurts, please God is there another way?” Know that there’s no sin in doing this – Jesus himself did it, but he continued by saying “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Jesus was fully submissive to his Father’s will. He knew it was going to hurt more than anything he could imagine, he knew if he wanted to he could summons hoards of Angels to take him back to heaven at any point, but still he was obedient and chose to do God’s will.

We may never face such a horrific experience as Jesus did on the cross, but we are always going to face choices to go God’s way or to go our own way. We will have the temptation to take the easy, comfortable, worldly, sometimes even what seems the most sensible way in our eyes, but we must learn to say to God “I want your will to be done, not mine, I chose to go your way”