The strength to live differently

Reflecting on Pentecost this past weekend, I was reminded of how we need the Spirit in order to live differently. What Jesus has called us to do, is not something that we can hope to achieve in our human strength or wisdom. It is extremely different and radical. 

If it were something that I could do with my own abilities I would be tempted to claim all the glory, but being a Christ-follower requires a supernatural element, that can only come from the Spirit.

Just take a look at the Beatitudes again and you will see what I mean (Matthew 5:3-10):

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

If you would like to listen to our Pentecost message, please click onto the link and enjoy. 

Living in Grace

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Help is on the way

 

It is a little easier to hold out in difficult circumstances when one knows that help is on the way. Advent is that time of the year when we wait with great anticipation for the arrival of the Messiah. Although Jesus has already come, marking time during Advent is a helpful way to remember that HELP has been sent to us already. 

I came across a lovely song from Toby Mac, that uses these words to speak hope into our lives. The name of the song is 'Help is on the way."

"It may be midnight or mid-day
He's never early, never late
He will stand by what He claimed
I lived enough life to say...

I heard your heart, I see your pain
Out in the dark, out in the rain
Feels so alone, feels so afraid
I heard you pray in Jesus' name

Help is on the way
Roundin' the corner
Help is on the way
Comin' for ya
Help is on the way
Yea-ee-ayy
I lived enough life to say...
Help is on the way."

Living in Grace

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Give you strength

“May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and in his special favour gave us everlasting comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do and say.”- 2 Thessalonians 2:16

When we need comfort in any situation it is awesome to know that God draws near to us and stands with us.

Hold onto these words today.

Living in Grace
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Look upon us Lord

 

"Look upon us, O Lord,
and let all the darkness of our souls
vanish before the beams of thy brightness.
Fill us with holy love,
and open to us the treasures of thy wisdom.
All our desire is known unto thee,
therefore perfect what thou hast begun,
and what thy Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer.
We seek thy face,
turn thy face unto us and show us thy glory.
Then shall our longing be satisfied,
and our peace shall be perfect."
(Augustine, 354 - 430)

Sometimes we find wise words from disciples who have gone before us. Augustine wrote this prayer sixteen hundred years ago and the words still ring true today. May you find strength and help through these words today.

God bless you.
Living in Grace
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Lord help me

Eddie Askew has written some phenomenal poems and prose over the years. In his book Disguises of Love he writes a lovely piece on praying - the last part of this prayer goes like this:

Lord, help me.
When I pray for peace, help me not to create dissension.
When I pray for my neighbour stir me up to help him.
When I pray "Your Kingdom come" inspire me to
share in its building.
Help me put my will where my mouth is.
And not to shift onto your shoulders
the things I can do something about myself.

Eddie Askew
(Disguises of Love)

May this prayer guide you through your activities today.

Living in Grace
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Prayer - Give me strength

More times than we care to admit we find that praying can be a struggle for us. We can't seem to find the right words or even a good place to begin, yet in the back of our minds, we realise our need of prayer.

For this reason, I am planning to share a few prayers over the next couple of days. It is my hope that they would help you to begin your times of prayer and to inspire you to speak to our Lord.

Today's prayer comes from John Wesley - I have slightly altered his prayer to make the English a little more understandable:

"Give me your strength;
Give me your love;
and be the motive behind my understanding, 
my affections,
my senses, 
my health, 
my time,
and whatever other talents I have received from you.
Then will I be able to fulfil your command of loving you with all my heart, 
and mind, and soul and strength. Amen."

If you would like to read a scripture to go with this prayer, then perhaps turn to Colossians 3:23.

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The one thing I want from God

^{If you could ask one thing from God, what would you ask for?
King David asks for something unusual ( in some aspects), but his request reminds me of the important things in life.
 
"}The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all, is the privilege of meditating in his Temple, living in his presence every day of my life, delighting in his incomparable perfections and glory. ⁵ There I’ll be when troubles come. He will hide me. He will set me on a high rock ⁶ out of reach of all my enemies. Then I will bring him sacrifices and sing his praises with much joy." - Psalm 27:4-6

So, after having read this, what would you NOW ask for?

Living in Grace
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Nehemiah - with God's Help

Carrying on with the theme of yesterday - rebuilding when faced with opposition - it is interesting to note that Nehemiah faced similar trials as Ezra. There were many people who tried to distract them from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but in the end God helped them prevail. This verse sums up the hard work and focussed stewardship of Nehemiah and his team.

¹⁵ So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun. ¹⁶ When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God." - Nehemiah 6:15-16

The hard work of the people, coupled with the HELP of God, ended up in a great victory and the task was completed. We would be wise to remember that anything worthwhile will take time and a huge effort if we want to succeed in that task. If it is worth it, then it is worth the pain and hardship to accomplish the goal.

Keep at it! God will help you complete the task.

Living in Grace

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You can't do it on your own

The message of the world is: "You can do it alone! You are strong enough! Believe in yourself!"
While, there is a lot of merit in having a positive attitude, the message of the Gospel is that we CAN'T do it alone.
We need one another.
We need to rely on Jesus.
Our Salvation is not dependent on our own ability.

All these things are not a sign of weakness, but rather of trusting in the strength of God and of being part of the body of Christ. 

Jean Vanier once marked - "Life comes from the recognition that I CAN'T do it on my own."

Next time you are tempted to 'go it along' ask yourself if that is for the best? Is this what God would want from you? Is there someone you can ask to help you?

1 Corinthians 12:27 - Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Living in Grace
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One call away

Okay, I admit that my mind is a strange place at times! When I heard this song on the radio the other day, I immediately thought it would make a great message for a blog. The song is - "One call away" by Charlie Puth. It has no religious connection at all, but I love these lyrics:

"I'm only one call away
I'll be there to save the day
Superman got nothing on me
I'm only one call away." - Charlie Puth


Isn't this the truth of the Gospel?
Jesus is simply one call away.
All it takes is for us to cry out to him and he will answer our hearts cry.
So the next time you are tempted to try and 'go it alone', why don't you call out to your loving Saviour.


Jesus is only one call away.

Galatians 4:6 - "And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”


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No one to help?

It is a tragic moment when we look for someone to help us and we realise that there is no one to lean on. We would be surprised how many people in our communities are in this exact position. They soldier on with their daily struggles, but they don't have anyone to turn to when life gets tough. This is also what happened to the people Judah:

"When her people fell into enemy hands, 
there was no one to help her..." - Lamentations 1:7

If you are needing help today, turn to the Lord - the Lord is there for us.

Psalm 142:4 - I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.

Living in Grace

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Ask for help

We have become very independent people! We like to know that we can cope with any situation and asking for help is not the cool thing to do. In fact, somewhere along the line, we have convinced ourselves that needing help is a sign of weakness.

I want to say that this is utter garbage! If we believe that we have all things figured out and that
don't need to ask for help, then we border on arrogance. Every human people needs help at some stage in our lives - I think that God created us to be dependent on the love and support of our communities.

Even if we look at the beginning and end of our existence - when we come into the world as tiny babies we need people around us to help us - we won't survive if these care-givers aren't there for us. However, the same applies for when we are old and frail - we need people around to help and care for us. This is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of healthy community.

So, if you are sitting in a troublesome situation today, I urge you to ask for help. Don't worry about what others may think - they are probably also seeking help, but are too proud to ask someone.

Matthew 7:7 -[ Effective Prayer ] “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 

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Do some fishing

Sometimes we just need to do a little Fishing! 

Well, to be more specific – we just need to do a little casting. Everyone of us is invited to ‘cast’ all our cares onto the Lord and to trust that he will sustain us through all the issues we are facing. 

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you;

He will never let the righteous fall.” – Psalm 55:22

What an awesome promise, don't you think?

So, how about it then? Are you tired of trying to do everything alone? Why don’t you cast your cares onto Jesus and see what happens?

Living in Grace

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Gladness and hunger meet.

I love stumbling across inspiring words or quotes. I find that they can be the gem in my day, challenging me as well as speaking into my life. This morning I had one of those moments when I was reading a chapter from "One.Life" by Scot McKnight. In this particular chapter I came across these deeply moving words:

"The place where God calls you is where your deep gladness meets the world's deep hunger" - Frederick Buechner

Wow! How often do we struggle to try and discern God's call for our lives, waiting for the writing on the wall, when it could be as close to us as this? So the very things that bring us joy could be our offering to the world's deep hunger?!

For example, we may love music and be skilled in an instrument - perhaps this is what we need to offer the world right now. Or we may have a love of crafts, baking, knitting, writing, poetry, sport, photography - all of these we could offer to the world as our "gift" to a hungry world. Had you thought about that?

Don't try and offer the world what you don't have - offer what God has already GIVEN to you.

This is what Jesus was trying to explain to the disciples when they were faced with feeding the 5000. The disciples kept thinking of how they were going to get food (or pay for it) from the outside, when Jesus knew that they already had what they needed amongst them.

Living in grace
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It is Enough!

How often do we pray for God to change our circumstances or to take us out of a bad place? We need some intervention and our prayers are usually centred around God delivering us from the fiery furnace. But what happens when God doesn't move us or when things don't change - what then? 

Well, for me the answer lies in these 3 verses...

"Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

God's grace will be ENOUGH!
His grace is ALL we need to help us through.
When we are WEAK, that is when God IS STRONG!

#justsaying

Living in Grace
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Cargo

There are things & people that we "carry along" with us our whole lives and they will remain "precious cargo" for us. I am speaking of family, friendships, memories, defining moments and moments of grace.

However, there are too many of us who carry unwanted cargo our whole lives. These usually end up being broken relationships, hurtful conversations, shattered dreams, abuse from a loved one, rejection, fear, anxiety and trauma.

All of these things/people have added to the burden that we carry, but we don't have to carry any of these alone. In fact, carrying this kind of cargo will only wear us out and make us stumble along the road.

I invite us all to lay down our "unwanted cargo." I know that forgetting what happened may not be possible, but it is our choice whether we carry the burden alone.

Psalm 68:19 - "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens."

Matthew 11:28 -  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

Share your burdens with Christ - He cares for you.

Living in Grace
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Walking on water

  "He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea." - Job 9:8

Did Job know that Jesus would fulfil this prophecy hundreds of years later? I am not sure if he did, but the one thing he knew was that God had the authority to walk on water if he wanted to. When it comes to knowing about God we are all still 'playing in the shallows' - there is so much more we can discover about our Great God. Can I encourage us to 'stretch' our understanding of God and believe in His ability to do way more than we could ever dream or imagine.

God is way bigger than we our human minds can comprehend. Let's try not to 'box' God into a tiny container and limit His incredible power.

Matthew 14:25-29
"Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Living in Grace
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God won't let you slip

In a world where people push to get ahead of everyone else, even if it means stepping all over each other, it is nice to be reminded that God doesn't want us to stumble. God is the one who wants to stop us from slipping/stumbling and he wants us to finish the race we have started. It is Good News that God has our back and that God encourages us to persevere in our faith.

^"To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." - Jude 24-25

May we walk securely today, knowing that God delights in helping us along the way.

Living in Grace
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Lent 8 - God's care for us

"It is Your love that ... graciously upholds me, supports me in so many necessities, guards me from so many dangers, and snatches me from evils without number." - Thomas a Kempis

Have you ever stopped to consider how many times God may have protected us without us even knowing it? It is easy to ask God for the blessings and help, but we may never know (until we meet God face to face) how many dangers and evil things he helped us avoid.

God cares for us in ways beyond our understanding. When we place our lives into his hands, we surrender all the good, bad and ugly moments unto His will and purpose. Perhaps God will indeed show us a DVD of our lives when we get to heaven and God will point out every time he snatched us from potential harm. Worth thinking about I think!

Genesis 28:15 - "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Be blessed today.

Living in Grace
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Thanks to www.gracerivers.com for the photo

Giving up too easily

In the next part of his reflection Thomas a Kempis records a conversation between Christ and 'The Disciple' (who could be himself or to any one of us). It starts like this:

Christ: My child, you are not yet a brave and wise lover.

Disciple: Why, Lord?

Christ: Because, on account of a slight difficulty you give up what you have undertaken and are too eager to seek consolation...

There is so much truth in this honest answer from Jesus. How many times do we fall away, or even think of giving up, when we face trials of any kind? We are prone to despair and want to throw in the towel too easily. God encourages us to push on through the troubling times and to stay committed to his ways.

"...we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." - Romans 5:3-5

So, if this is for you today, then please hang in there - God will help you to stay strong in the midst of difficult times.

Living in Grace
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