Riptide

Hebrews 2:1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

While attending a leaders equipping Conference in Bali recently we were blessed to be able to get up early every morning to go for a swim at the stunning Kuta Beach. The water was warm and the beach was amazing. One thing, however, that we were warned to be aware of was the potential of rips. The beach is prone to rips and if you don’t pay careful attention then you could easily get caught and before you know it be taken out to sea.

In Hebrews we are encouraged to ‘pay the most careful attention’ that we don’t drift away from God and ‘float’ into places and situations that will cause us to be caught in a ‘spiritual riptide’.

1.       Pay most careful attention

Cruise control can be great when travelling long distances because you don’t need to keep your foot on the accelerator. However studies show that when people use cruise control their attention capacity is reduced and they do not respond in dangerous situations as well as drivers in ‘full control’.

Don’t go into ‘spiritual cruise control’ drifting into influences and teachings that will cause you to drift away from God. Make sure you are spending the majority of your time with people who are going to spur you on in your faith. Also monitor what you are allowing to influence your life whether it is media, music or people. If you fail to pay most careful attention then you might find yourself drifting away from God without even knowing it.

2.       Put yourself in a place to hear

Avoiding things that are detrimental to our walk with God is important but we also need to make sure that God and His Word has the loudest voice in our lives. Are you hearing from God and deliberately putting yourself in places to hear the voice of God and His Word? Make attending church regularly a priority, commit to going to a Life group or small group, meet with God in your own person devotion time and get to the church events and courses that are going to help your walk with God and to know His Word. You can’t act on what you do not know but ignorance is not a valid excuse either. Make sure God is and stays the top priority in your life.

3.       Action it

To ensure that we don’t just drift along and get caught in a ‘Spiritual Riptide’ we need to ensure that we act on what we hear. We can hear and know God’s Word but not live it out. Commit to taking what you hear and putting it into practice. ‘Drifting’ is passive and we should fight to ensure that we never get passive in our walk with God. James 1:22 says ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.’

If we pay most careful attention to what is influencing us, put ourselves in a place to hear God’s Word and deliberately action what we hear, then we will guard ourselves from drifting away from God.

Found Part One - The Lost Son

In the parable of the lost son we see three people directly involved in this story of a son (lost person) being restored and forgiven by his father (God) Read Luke 15:11-31. In this blog we will look at the younger son with the following two looking at the Father and older brother.

The parable starts off with the younger son asking for his share of his inheritance. This would have been particularly hard for the father as his son may as well have said ‘I wish you were dead’. The father would have been very wounded by this harsh demand but nonetheless he divided up the estate between his two sons.

The son immediately took the money and walked away from his father to pursue a sinful lifestyle only to squander his entire inheritance. After leaving his father, the son’s life went to ruin. While in this dark place he comes to his senses and returns to his father.  There were four significant changes that occur in his life that are of value to us today.  

1.       Recognise - Luke 15:17, 18 “When he came to his senses, he said... I will set out and go back to my father...

 Recognising sin in your life is critical to coming into a right relationship with God but also for Christians to walk in the fullness of what God has for them. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us and bring us to a place of acknowledging the sin in our lives so we can deal with it.

2.       Repent - Luke 15:21 ...’Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

We can recognise the sin areas in our lives and yet not do anything about it. God calls us to repent/turn away from everything the Bible calls sin and follow after Him. With His help you can overcome anything. The son did not go back to his father the same; he went back a changed, repentant man.

3.       Humility Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble...

The son went from a place of great pride and arrogance when he demanded his inheritance, to a place of heartfelt humility on his return. Humility is having a modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance. It puts other people before you and also elevates God.

4.       Run to God Luke 15:20 So he got up and went to his father

We need to be people who are humble enough to run to God when we blow it but also know that He wants us to come to Him! Sometimes we can be like Adam and Eve in the garden where we hide from God because we are ashamed of our sin.  As in the garden, God is looking for us and wants us to run to Him even when we mess up. This ‘found’ son did not want to live his life separate from his father and likewise God wants all His children to live their lives with Him too.

Trailblazing

The Pioneering Spirit can be encapsulated in the ministry that God gave Joshua. In Numbers 27:15-18 Moses was praying to God asking for someone to succeed him. This is what he asked

 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 17 who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.”

In order to lead other people we need to be able to lead ourselves really well first. Joshua’s ministry can be described as a ‘leading out and bringing in’ ministry. Before the Israelites could go into the Promised Land they needed to first come out of the wilderness. Before Joshua could lead anyone else he needed to do it himself first. The same is for us today. We need to come out of some things so that God can take us into what He has for us. Then we will be able to lead other people as well.

1.       Go out

What is God calling you out of? What mindsets, spoken words, old wine skin, faith immobilisers, sin or relationships etc... is God asking you to leave behind so you can go into the promise He has for you? Take some time asking God what there is in your life that he wants you to leave behind and come out of. Write them out and ask God to help you to get rid of them in your life.

2.       Go in

What is God calling you to do? Perhaps you have had a dream or vision from God in the past and you have forgotten it. Spend some time soaking in God’s presence asking Him to reveal what His dream is for you or ask Him to rekindle His dream for you that may seemingly have died.

3.       Action

All of this requires action, an internal drive and determination to overcome. You can know what God is asking you to move away from and even where He wants you to go to, but without action nothing will happen. 1 Corinthians 4:20 says ‘For the Kingdom is not a matter of talk but power’. We can talk all we like but we need to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to move us into action.

List some practical things that you can do to leave behind the things God is asking you to and what you can do to go into your ‘Promised Land’.

Declaration Prayer – Pray this prayer out loud declaring it over your life.

I am called by God for a specific task that only I can complete. I am coming out of everything that hinders me from receiving God’s best for my life. I am committed, passionate and full of faith for what God is bringing me into. I have perseverance and endurance to remain committed no matter what happens. I am a pioneer and trailblazer for the Kingdom of God. I possess the power of God to move mountains and am more than a conqueror. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. In Jesus name, Amen.

Unlocking the Salvation Code

The Apostle Paul was a master at reaching the lost and making disciples and would do whatever it took to bring anyone and everyone into a relationship with Jesus. I pray that we would catch his passion and desperation for lost people through this passage.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

¹⁹ Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹ To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1.       A Slave to the Lost

‘...I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.’

What free man or woman would give up their freedom and rights to become a slave to someone? Not many, but that’s what Paul declares here. We might be comfortable saying that we would be a servant of others, but are we prepared to go as far as the Apostle Paul? The connotations of what it meant and means to be a slave is not a glorified position but a one of lost rights and other people dictating you life. Paul was more than prepared to give up all his rights to win every possible person for Jesus. This is very challenging thought. How far are we prepared to go for the sake of the gospel? God grace us to become ‘slaves to the lost’.

2.       Unlocking the Salvation Code to your own People Group

‘To the Jew I became like a Jew, to win the Jews’

Paul was a Jew and so had a burden to reach his own people group. This is always a great place for all of us to start when it comes to reaching out to people. Is our heart broken for our cultural group and land? One of the graces that Paul was able to walk in as he reached out to his fellow Jews was that he did not have to try to be a Jew, meaning that he did not have to work very hard to understand and relate because it all came very naturally.  You have a natural grace upon you to reach your own people because it is easier for you to understand them and you can have incredible insights into how to go about reaching them. Ask God for the best way to reach your own people and then go for it!

3.       Unlocking the Salvation Code to other Cultures

‘To those not having the law I became like one not having the law... so as to win those not having the law.’

As well as having a great burden to reach his own culture the Apostle Paul also had a heart and special anointing to reach other cultures. The people who were not Jews were commonly referred to as gentiles. Paul began his ministry reaching out to Jews but quickly found that God had called him and graced him to reach people that we very different from him. He was more effective with reaching gentiles than he was with Jews and so as time went on he devoted more time, effort and energy into reaching this group. The important thing to know is who is God calling you to? If you know who that is, then you can focus and with God’s help discover the specific ‘code’ to reach and unlock a culture, age group or nation.

4.       Divine creativity in reaching lost people

’...I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.’

The way you would reach youth will be very different to the way people would try to reach others in inland China, and this in turn would be different to how people would try and reach the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand. The point is that there is not only one way to reach all people, but many. Unlocking the salvation code for the many different people groups around us will require divine creativity. Pray and seek God to discover how to best reach the people you are trusting Him for and then share your ideas with your leaders. If it is possible and achievable then make it happen! Be released to do whatever it takes to save some!

Carpet Unity

A number of years ago I found myself going to a meeting at church that I was not looking forward to. There was enormous disunity and it broke my heart to see such division between people who had followed God strongly together.

I went there an hour early to pray for unity. As I was on my knees in desperation crying out to God to intervene The Holy Spirit spoke to me. He told me to open my eyes and asked me what I could see. A bit puzzled I opened them thinking I couldn’t really see anything at all. However I responded with the only thing I could actually see... carpet. God’s reply to that was ‘exactly, and that is what I am doing.’ God then gave me a vision of four people pulling on a sample piece of carpet that you would get from a carpet store. No matter how hard they pulled they could not pull it a part. God placed in my heart that day that He was building our church with that same kind of tight knit unity that it would be incredibly difficult to tear apart. That particular meeting still went on to be one of the worst and saddest meetings I have ever been to but despite that I still held onto the promise that God was forging something very special in the midst of chaotic disunity.

Years later I, along with my amazing Pastors and our phenomenal leadership team, stand upon a ‘carpet of unity’ by the absolute grace of God. It was fought for and to this day we continue to fight to preserve unity for the sake of the Kingdom.

We don’t want to take this unity for granted and so we seek to guard it and want to keep growing it. Philippians 2:1-8 gives us some great points on how to build unity and to also keep it.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

1.       Same Mind

Having the same mind or being like-minded is having agreed opinions, the same goals and same mission. A critical part of this is everyone setting out to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we have the mind of Christ then we will be focussed on Kingdom things that are important to Jesus.

Being of one mind does not mean that we always agree on everything but it does mean that we agree on the important things like major doctrines, vision and mission that God has collectively called us to. When we have those things set in place the lesser things don’t divide us but strengthen. Diversity in unity can give a team such incredible strength as each person gives a different perspective with the heartfelt motivation to preserve unity in the process.

2.       Same Love

Loving the One who loves us is collectively our number one priority both individually and as a spiritual family. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in Matthew 22:37 he replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If everyone is focussed on loving God first with heart, soul and mind then that love binds us together.

When we love God like that we can’t help but also begin loving what is most important to Him: people. The second greatest commandment is to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. God has such great love for people that He sent Jesus to restore us back to Him through the cross and resurrection. Keep loving God and loving people!

3.       Same Spirit

Because we have the same mind and same love we act and behave as one. Our Spirits become aligned and we walk together in tight spiritual unity. Like in a three legged race where we have to work together to win or even finish the race, so we need our Spirits to synchronise in order to walk together in unity.

4.       Others first

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. - Philippians 2:3, 4

In order to walk in unity it requires us to lay down our own desires and agendas. Not only does it requires us to lay them down but even put other people’s interest and preferences before ours because we value unity more than we do getting our own way.

It means to commit to building each other up, speaking graciously and highly of one another. When we speak harshly, disrespectfully or gossip about one another we erode away trust and unity. Guarding unity also requires a commitment to stop and challenge people speaking about one another like this, especially about leaders.

If we all choose to put Jesus and other people first we will preserve unity and honour God

5.       Christ-like humility

We must be humble. The opposite of humility is pride. Pride is the filling of yourself with yourself so that you get the glory. Humility is the emptying of yourself to be filled with God so that He gets the glory. It is a lowliness of mind and having the proper view of yourself rather than an inflated view. Humility is something we should constantly pray for, yet never thank God that we have.

Why is this all important for? Why should we fight for and walk in unity? The answer can be found in John 17:20-23

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The undeniable sign to a lost world that Jesus is the saviour of humanity and of God’s great love for them is that we as believers walk in complete unity. It is not healings or miracles but rather Jesus’ followers walking in unity that will convince people that Jesus is who He says He is. That should be all the motivation we need to fight for and preserve unity in God’s church!

100% Pure

1 Timothy 5:22  “...keep yourself pure”

The fight for purity in a world that pursues promiscuity is something every Christian needs to war for. We live in a sexualised culture and it is critical that we have a determination to keep ourselves pure before God. God created sex to be enjoyed in a loving, covenant, marriage relationship. Sexual activity outside of that is sin and has the potential to damage and hurt many people. So what can we do to keep ourselves pure before God?

Pure Devotion

1 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Pure devotion to God can’t be over emphasised in our success in walking in purity. Without this firmly established in a believer’s life then the task of overcoming sexual sin and all other sin for that matter becomes significantly more difficult. For people who struggle in this area the answer is not necessarily to try harder. Effort on our behalf is needed but many people who struggle with sexual temptation and sin are usually trying harder than other people who walk in purity. The answer is more of Jesus rather than more human effort. Build your relationship with Him by committing yourself to His Word and in prayer. Remember, if we had the ability to overcome sin by ourselves then Jesus would not have needed to come and live a sinless life and die on the cross for our sins. So draw closer to Jesus in pure devotion and ask for His help and grace to overcome and walk in purity. Jesus knows how to deal with and defeat sin and He wants to help you as well.

Purity Stance

Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

After establishing pure devotion we need to develop a purity stance based on what God says and not the world. If we don’t have a stance or standard that we are asking God to help us to achieve then we will fall at every temptation.  God’s standard is “not even a hint” which mean not even a whisper of sexual immorality. So when answering the question ‘How far can I go with someone I am not married to’ the answer is ‘not even a hint’. 1 Timothy 5:2 tells us to treat “older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” It is fair to say that most people would not go very far sexually with someone that they are closely related to and the only time that we are to consider someone other than a brother or a sister is in a marriage relationship.

 Personal Purifier

Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

What we allow in our lives influences our thoughts and in turn directs our actions. If we blindly watch anything on television, listen to any music or expose ourselves to sexually explicit material then we are sowing things into our lives that, if left unchecked, cause destruction. Monitoring what you sow into your life is incredibly important. Get into a habit of critiquing the things you watch, listen to and meditate on. Do they help you follow after Jesus or do they encourage or promote sinning against Him? Sow seeds of purity so that when sexual temptation comes you are strong to defeat it.

Flee from Sexual immorality

1 Corinthians 6:18 - Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

RUN! Make a decision to flee when you find yourself in sexually immoral situations. If you know beforehand what you will do in situations it will become easier to get out of them. When Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph by his clothes and told him to come to bed with her he immediately ran! (Genesis 39:6-12) Don’t try and stay and reason, or try to convince yourself it’s not that bad. Flee and get out of whatever situation it is.

Impossible Acts

At the outset of the launch of the church in the Book of Acts we see some important things established that are not just relevant for us today but critical if we want to be successful in our church and personal lives. They set the platform for an action packed book full of impossible things occurring because of the incredible power of the Holy Spirit unleashed in The Church. Here are some important things that God wants to be a part of His church today

 Jesus is central

In the first 11 verses of Acts 1 we are left under no misunderstanding about who and what the church is all about, and its mission. Jesus is mentioned or quoted throughout these verses, emphasising that the church and this Christian walk is all about Him. He needs to be central to all we do as a church as well as our individual lives.

When talking to His disciples in Matthew 16:13-20 about the foundation of the Church, Jesus wanted to be very clear about who He was and what He was about. He asked the question “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then declared that on this confession of faith He would build His church. Is our response to this question the same as Peter? Is He the saviour of the world (Messiah) and divine, or just some anointed teacher or prophet? Jesus is worthy of us following Him as both Lord and saviour because of the work He did on the cross.

The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to do the impossible.

Acts 4:30, 31 “...Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

One of the greatest promises in the Bible is found at the beginning of Acts. Jesus ascended to Heaven but He never left us alone to fulfil His mission by ourselves. He promised to send us a helper. That helper was The Holy Spirit. In fact The Holy spirit was so important to the success of the church that Jesus ‘commanded’ them to wait in Jerusalem until they were baptised in the Holy Spirit! Jesus Himself only stepped into his public ministry moving in the impossible after He was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21, 22). If we as His Church want to live and move in the impossible like Jesus and the early Church then we too must have the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through our lives.

Power to be a witness

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The primary reason for God giving us the Holy Spirit was for the lost! Jesus is so concerned for lost people that He told the disciples that The Holy Spirit will give us power to be effective witnesses as we share the love and saving power of Jesus. Our effectiveness in sharing the gospel increases significantly with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit! The more we have the Holy Spirit in our lives the more we will want to share our faith with people because that is at the very heart beat of Jesus and of utmost importance. Remember that God wants to empower you to do that which is impossible through the Holy Spirit, so don’t shy away from asking the God of the impossible to make things possible.

Living Loved - Important!

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved... Colossians 3:12

People are incredibly important to God. You are incredibly important to God! In God’s eyes you are of great value, worth and importance. In life we can allow our mistakes, negative words from other people and poor self image to frame how we see ourselves and how we think God sees us. People can get in such dark places that they believe that they are not loved and the only way to get out of that situation is to take their own life. They don’t realise that they are so incredibly important to God and are loved enormously!

Society says that we should have a good self-image but maybe that is not the best place to start... Perhaps instead of looking to ourselves for value, worth and good image we rather start with God and develop a God-image of ourselves. Here are 3 ways that God sees you:

1.       Chosen

When God chose you it was not like some school yard sport selection where the best players got picked first and the lesser ones picked last. God handcrafted and handpicked you to have life and to also know Him. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...” For the previous 5 days God had created many things for His prized creation. He created humans on the 6^th day and what set them apart from all the rest of creation was that they were created in the image of their creator.

You have the finger print of God stamped on you which makes you an image bearer of God! This gives you great worth, value and importance! Creation has a common design but only one group represents God in image... humanity.

Not only that, God wants to have a relationship with all of his prized creation including you and me. We usually make time for the people that are most important to us so we can spend time with them. Well you are so important to God that He has cleared His entire schedule for you so that He can spend time with you!

2.       Holy

In the Old Testament we hear statements from God like “I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy” – Leviticus 11:45

God sees us as holy because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. When we receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour we exchange our unrighteousness for His righteousness and our sinful lives for His sinless life. So when we stand before God He sees us as sinless and forgiven. However if we truly receive the love of God and receive Jesus as both lord and saviour then our lives should reflect it. To be holy in its simplest form is to be dedicated and devoted to God. Our lives should reflect God’s Holiness and not be characterised by sin. For us to be holy is not to be in sinless perfection like God but it is a heartfelt commitment and motivation to repent and turn from everything the Bible says is sin. With God’s help and our desire to remove sin from our lives we will see God graciously move in our lives.

3.       Dearly loved

God has such great love for you and me. He knows about us intimately and even after sin entered the human equation He mounted a rescue mission motivated by love to deal with the sin issue in our lives.

He knows things about you like how many hairs there are on your head (Matthew 10:30), He knew of you before you were born (Jeremiah 1:5), and He has great plans for you! (Jeremiah 1:11). God knows all our dreams, passions and desires while also aware of our pains, hurts and fears. God knows you intimately and wants you to know Him intimately as well!

So much so that He sent His son Jesus to live a sinless perfect life and die on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. Yes Jesus loves you that much that He died for you and so yes you are also very valuable and very important to God!

 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Wholehearted!

Numbers 14:24 - But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

Caleb is an incredible example of faith and commitment to God. His wholehearted devotion towards God meant that God allowed only him and Joshua to enter into the ‘Promised Land’ from their generation. While everyone else rebelled against God Caleb held onto faith in the midst of a faithless generation. There is so much packed into this small verse that should inspire us to also be wholehearted in our generation.

1.       Caleb was God’s servant

Caleb did not serve himself he served God. He truly understood what Jesus said in the garden many years later to God, “not my will, but yours be done”. Many people serve themselves but God’s high calling for us is to serve Him and serve others. As we do that we ourselves will be blessed.

2.       Caleb had a different Spirit

God sets Caleb apart from the rest when He says that Caleb had a different spirit about him. Different means that something or someone does not conform to the standard or the norm; it can be positive or negative, and in this instance it is a very positive thing. While the rest of the Israelites subscribed to some sort of moderated faith where they would pick and choose their moments to have faith, Caleb did not. In His spirit he was confident and certain that what God said He would follow through with. This belief in all situations meant that Caleb’s faith set him apart from everyone else. While Caleb stood amongst a crowd of doubters, he still chose to believe in his God rather than popular opinion.

3.       Caleb followed God wholeheartedly

We all have a strong desire that our physical heart works and functions well. When it is working well we can do a lot of things. However if our hearts were to work at half capacity then we would find ourselves severely limited physically or in very big trouble health wise. So when we follow God in anything less than with our whole heart we can find that spiritually things don’t go so well. To be strong in the spirit is to follow God wholeheartedly by obeying Him in every area of our lives. Choose today to be like Caleb and be wholehearted in your commitment to God!

4.       He received the promise!

Caleb had such great faith and despite all the doubters around him and the very real obstacles he faced, he held on like his life depended upon it. He held on by faith until he saw it become a reality. When we follow God wholeheartedly and have faith in Him it not only pleases Him but He will come through!

5.       Caleb passed on an Inheritance

This wholehearted faith that Caleb had in God was not just about him. His great faith and devotion to God had an enormous impact on his family for generations. What an amazing legacy Caleb passed on to his family! He not only showed them how to serve God wholeheartedly but also passed on the land that he inherited. He passed on physical blessings but more importantly spiritual anointing and blessings.

 

Ask God to give you a ‘different spirit’ like Caleb and seek after God wholeheartedly and you will find Him moving in your life like never before!

Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7:7, 8  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

 In Matthew Jesus gives us an incredible invitation to come to Him boldly and with a promised response! If we ask, it will be given. If we seek, we will find. If we knock, the door will open!

So are we doing these things? Are we bringing our faith prayers to God believing that He will answer and come through?

Yesterday I took one of our young people out to teach them the importance of actively seeking God. We went up the Port Hills and stood at the base of one of the peaks. The question was “What are you prepared to do to do to get into the presence of God? Are we asking, seeking and knocking?”  After all, didn’t Moses climb Mount Sinai while he was in his 80’s so that he could get into the presence of God? And he climbed that mountain several times! We can now come boldly into the presence of God because of what Jesus did, and not because of our own good deeds - we don’t need to earn our way into His presence but this illustrates how we are to be hungry, passionate and deliberate in seeking after God.

We then climbed to the top of the hill and as I walked away for 30mins to allow this young man to spend time alone with God, I meditated on this passage.

Ask – What are you trusting God for? We can think about what we would like and we can even talk about what we are believing God for but do we actually ask? James 4:2b says ‘You do not have because you do not ask God’ so we must actually ask Him! Sometimes we don’t ask because we think we always need to be super spiritual in our requests. Of course we don’t want to get into ‘gimme’ prayers where we treat God like our own personal genie, but we also need to remember that our God is not a stingy God. So let’s ask for greater spiritual depth and all those important things but also the other things you are trusting for too, because you are important to God.

Seek – What an incredible part of scripture this is. The creator of the universe is saying to you that if you seek Him then you will find Him! This means that He is not going to play hide and seek with you. If you actively seek Him He will meet you there. How amazing is this?! James puts it this way ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you’. Make time for God and seek Him. Never let yourself be too busy for God because he is never too busy for you!

Knock – Sometimes we can come to doors in our lives that seem shut so tight and there is no way through. Well God has the ability to open doors that no one else can open, and shut doors that no one else can shut. So as you seek the one who opens and closes remember that when you knock on God’s door He promises to open it and allow you in.

Keep asking, seeking and Knocking – Greek present imperatives are used here in the original language which makes it slightly difficult to translate into English. (What on earth are you talking about?!) What this basically means is that we can sometimes lose a little bit of understanding in translation. This passage could be better understood by saying ‘Asking and it will be given to you; seeking and you will find; knocking and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who keeps asking receives; the one who keeps seeking finds; and to the one who keeps knocking, the door will be opened.” The emphasis here is to be persistent in your asking, seeking and knocking.

God wants to meet with you  so put time aside to ask Him for what is on your heart, seek Him with everything that is within you and knock until the door opens.

Great like Johnny Baptist!

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist...” Matthew 11:11

In a truly honouring moment of his cousin John the Baptist, Jesus declares John to be the greatest person to have ever walked on the planet! Jesus goes on to say what we can do to be greater than John but that is for another blog. For now let’s look at why Jesus could possibly say that John was in fact greater than people like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah and other greats of the Old Testament. 

1.       John knew who Jesus truly was

In an extraordinary prophetic declaration, John sees Jesus coming towards him and immediately turns to tell everyone “Look, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29b

John knew that Jesus was the promised messiah and was going to deal with the sin issue of humanity.  Knowing Jesus as your personal Lord and saviour is crucial if you want to be great in God’s eyes!

2.       John was fully committed to the call of God on his life

 “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the lord, make straight paths for him” Matthew 3:3b

God had called John to prepare the way for Jesus to come. He devoted his life to calling people to repent and turn back to God.

3.       He made disciples and released them as leaders

John had an ability to see where his young leaders were and where God was wanting to take them. John 1:36, 37 says ‘When he (John) saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.’

Those two disciples were Andrew and probably John, two of the 12 that Jesus selected to be His disciples. John could have kept those two young men and would have probably done a great job with them but he had the security and vision to point and release them fully into the things God had for them. Both went on to be instrumental in the foundation of the church with John writing 5 books in the New Testament. Leaders have the privilege and responsibility to point and release the young leaders they serve to heights and places that go beyond where they are able to go!

4.       John was about Jesus, not himself

John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven... He must become greater; I must become less” John 3:27, 30

In an incredible act of humility and security John does something absolutely remarkable: he fades into the background. At probably about the age of 30, merely 6 months older than Jesus, John was at the height of his ministry. People were coming from miles to hear him speak. Thousands of people were turning from sin to God and showing it by being baptised. He was the most influential man in God’s Kingdom at that time! Today people would have been listening to his podcasts, reading his blog, and jumping on planes just to hear him speak. Things were going very well. But in one moment he goes from the heights of ministry to taking a seat in the back as soon as Jesus appears. John’s role was to prepare people for Jesus and when He appeared John’s ministry was no longer required.  John graciously steps back to allow another to become prominent. Now John continued to follow Jesus and point people to Him but with much less influence and he was 100% okay with that!

Would you step aside and fade into the background for Jesus? Are you prepared to become less so that Jesus would take greater prominence? 

Stay on the Path

Proverbs 3:5, 6

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

God has given each one of us a path to go on in life. The amazing thing is that because God created us all unique with different skills, talent and passions He has also given us a special path for us individually to walk on.  But how do we know what that path is and how do we know we are even on it?

1.      Trust in the LORD with all your heart

When it comes to walking on the path God sets out for us we need to settle in our hearts that what He wants for us and where He is taking us is best for us. Trusting in God means to hand over the ‘reigns’ of our life to Him and having the faith to believe that He will take us in the right direction. If we do not trust God with all our heart we won’t take the big decisions in our life to Him. If we don’t take the big decisions of life to Him then we will probably find ourselves on our own path rather than the one He has for us.

2.      Don’t lean on your own understanding

The Bible tells us to live by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Leaning on our own wisdom and making decisions based on what we see around us is something we can all do. But there is a better way! God who knows everything from the beginning to the end wants to be a part of your life and lead and guide you in all things. He knows infinitely more than we do and as we seek Him He can help us to avoid destructive paths that might appear good on the surface.  When we trust in God and seek His wisdom He may ask us to do things that seem confusing or even ‘unwise’ in the natural. Going to God and His Word are critical to ensure we make wise choices and walk on the right path that He has for us.

3.      In all your ways submit to Him

By submitting all our dreams, relationships, finances, work, and whole life to Him shows that what God says is important to us. We can however have ‘selective submission’ which means we submit the areas of our lives that we are happy with what He says and not the areas where we don’t like what God has to say. For example, we don’t submit certain relationships because we know they don’t honour God, we don’t submit our finances because we don’t want to give, we don’t submit our dreams because we don’t want the ones God has for us etc. God has the absolute best for us and so bringing every area of our lives to Him will ultimately bring life and blessing.

4.      He will make your paths straight

The opposite of straight paths are crocked paths (Proverbs 10:9). These are paths full of wrong turns, travelling in the wrong direction and paths that don’t honour and submit to God. These lead to destruction and distance from God. If you do trust God with all your heart, seek His wisdom in decision making and submit fully to Him He will not only make it very clear what path He has for you but will also take you to places you never thought possible. The journey of follow Jesus is an exciting journey so let God in and follow Him with all your heart!