Standing for what is right!

Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong! (1 Peter 3:13-17 NLT)

Do you ever read a verse in the bible, that you've read many times before, and then it jumps out at you and captures your heart in  new way? I read these verses this week, and I got so excited about the truth of them that I may have stood up and had a little praise party ;) God is so good and if we search the scriptures, and spend time reading them, He will reveal His Word to us. The more of His Word we read, the more we can rise up in faith, hope and victory, knowing that in a world where others are against us, He is always FOR us! I don't know about you, but that truth makes me want to jump up and down and celebrate!

Have you ever done the right thing and found yourself being cruelly treated for standing up for truth and righteousness? The devil is so vile and will use people to hurt you, accuse you, lie about you and try to knock the very core of who you are. Most people think that doing the wrong thing gets you into trouble, and mostly it does. But, so often we can get into trouble for doing what is RIGHT! 

There will be seasons when we go through attack from the enemy, God says we will. The great thing is that we can rebuke the devil, because, in Jesus, we have authority over the enemy.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. God didn't say weapons wouldn't be formed against us, He said that will not prosper!

But, Did you know that when you suffer for doing the RIGHT THING , God will bless you? Suffering for righteousness brings a special blessing to the sufferer. 

When you have walked through the trial, with your head held high, when you've come through the fire, without being burnt and got to the otherside, you will be singing, you are still standing strong and now you are enjoying the blessing., because you did what was RIGHT :-) 

As much as you wouldn't have chosen to go through what you did, you'll be glad you did. Because you saw and experienced His glory, in a way that others have not experienced, because they didn't go through it. And now, you are experiencing His blessing!

I don't want to preach doom and gloom today. I know God offers us life to the full. But, I've been on the earth long enough to know that stuff happens. And you can be on your knees praying every prayer possible, praising God, but at some point or another, you will go through something. Somebody may die, you could get sick, you may loose your job or experience abuse and betrayal, an unexpected storm may come into your life.

But, in that thing that you are facing, I encourage you to ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, do that which is true and right. Obey God's word, don't give in to the devil tricks. Don't retaliate, don't fight back, don't join in with the lies, the gossip, the slander, don't entertain the things of darkness. But, keep your feet grounded on the TRUTH, keep your eyes open and on the TRUTH, keep your ears listening to TRUTH, keep your mouth speaking TRUTH, and keep your heart desiring and walking out TRUTH. And I promise you, you'll come through with your head held so high by God Almighty, you'll come through victorious, and you'll come through experiencing more blessings than you can contain, because, God blesses those who suffer for doing what is RIGHT! :-))

Now, go back and read those verses in 1 Peter again, because they are powerful!!

Let It GO!!

This week the little girls in my family were singing "Let it go" from the Disney movie, Frozen, for about 2 hours!!! They were twirling and swirling all over the house, singing at the top of their lungs and dancing like no one was watching. Oh the joy! I have to admit, I did join in [gosh, that song is so catchy and gets stuck in your head!], and we had a whole heap of fun together. I took a step back and watched them for a moment. My six year old niece and my two year old cousin, full of life, full of joy, freely dancing, embracing the moment, loving the journey. They are the cutest little girls in my life and I love them with all my heart. I stepped back and watched them and my heart skipped a beat! They weren't just singing a song, they really were "letting it go"! 

Children are so carefree [sometimes I wish I could be a kid again, just for a day maybe, hehe]. In a world where everything around us is going crazy, literally, these two precious girlies, in their young hearts, were declaring they were "letting it go" and they will choose joy.

I wonder how often we hold on to the things that Jesus came and died for? I wonder if we are so broken about our past, that we can't let it go and move on? I wonder how many of us are caught up in wrong thinking, wrong doctrine, wrong mind sets and wrong attitudes? The fact is , that life happens to all of us, bad stuff seems to happen to good people way too much! Sometimes other people's choices cause us to face catastrophic circumstances. Sometimes we fail, sometimes other people fail us. One thing I've learnt in life is that it's not about what happens to us, but rather how we respond to it that matters.

People can hurt us, and if we are going to be lovers of humanity, reaching out to others, then there is a fat chance we'll get hurt. The question is how do we respond to the hurt? We have three choices:
1. We can choose to throw the hurt back at them. After all, hurting people, hurt people!
2. We can choose to nurture our wounds, or even pick at them so they don't heal.
3. Or , we can choose to let it go!

I'm not saying letting it go is easy. What I am saying is that when you choose to let go, and it's not a one off choice, it may be a minute by minute choice to start with. But when we choose to let go, to forgive, to move on, it brings SO MUCH freedom to our lives. There are so many people walking around bound because of past hurts or mistakes. The human heart can be so fragile, that is why the Bible tells us to guard our hearts above all else, because the issues of life flow from it. I don't know about you but I don't have time to walk around with a broken heart and a crushed spirit, that's not to say that I haven't felt that way ever in my life. What I mean is that I have been called, equipped, chosen, anointed, appointed, and, adopted by the Most High God. Jesus came to heal the broken hearted! Life is short, people our precious and I want my days on this earth to count for something. I am not belittling heartache or pain, I just absolutely know, that Jesus nailed ALL my pain, and yours, when He died on the cross 2,000 years ago. He did it so that I could walk in freedom, and so I could accomplish His perfect plan for my life. So, each day, I CHOOSE to let it go! 

In order to move on in life, to fulfill our destiny, we need to fully, totally, completely let go of all the things that hold us back. Like I said before, 
this is a daily choice, and sometimes you may have to choose it moment by moment. We are all on a journey of restoration. God is restoring the broken pieces of our lives and heart, He is causing the ruins to come to life. 

My prayer is that we would truly, fully, completely, LET IT GO! That we would daily walk in freedom and victory. That our past would not rob us of our future, but that it would propel us into our future with greater fever, greater passion, greater purity, greater wisdom, greater vision, greater faith, greater love..

What is it that you need to let go of today?
Let go of thoughts that try to control you. Let go of negative voices and relationships. Let go of the past. Let go of bad attitudes. Let go of the mistakes you made. Let go of regrets. Let go of bad choices, or the bad choices of others.

We need to "Let go" in order to grab hold of :-)

When we let go of the junk, it positions us to grab hold of so much! We can grab hold of truth, grab hold of hope, grab hold of joy, grab hold of peace, grab hold of strength, grab hold of future, grab hold of destiny.

I encourage you today to forget that which is behind and run forwards with faith, expectancy and joy. For your latter days will be greater than your past.

Your latter days will be greater, WAY MORE greater, than your past! :-)

Lesson learnt from a coach ride

Last week, I had a long coach ride home. I'd been staying with lovely friends and had an almost 6 hour journey ahead of me. I just wanted to get on the coach, put my headphones in, and sleep! I made sure I was at the front of the queue so I could choose the seat I wanted. We boarded the coach and I found a comfortable seat and sat down, putting my bag on the chair next to me in the hope that no one would sit there! Anyway, the coach began to fill quickly with travelers and soon enough I had someone sitting beside me. I leant into the window and stared out, making sure there was enough space between me and my neighbour. 

As the man sat down, I got a whiff of an unfortunate smell, it was a hot day, and maybe he had run to catch the coach? I continued to stare out of the window, not wanting to make eye contact as I didn't want to talk! He then pulled out his paper stretched it out so it was over the imaginary line, you know what I'm talking about the "don't get in my personal space" line! He then proceeded to read the articles in the paper out loud! I knew this was going to be a long ride home. I turned around and scanned the rest of the coach to see if I could find an empty seat, but it was filling quickly. As he turned the pages of his paper his bare arm brushed against mine. I was not impressed! I was now pressed so hard against the window, trying to keep my personal space MY space. The coach driver set off and we were on our way. I had a talk with God, "Seriously, God? I asked You for a seat to MYSELF, so I could relax, enjoy the journey, read my book. And now I'm wedged up against the window like a sardine". No response. Five minutes into the journey, the man pulls out a huge road map, you know, the ones we all had in our cars years ago, before we used sat nav. So, he gets this map out and starts following the route, looking at every sign out of the window and then looking at the map! It was not the journey home that I had hoped for. About an hour and a half later, we stopped and some passengers got off, I made a run for it and quickly found a seat by myself. Finally, I could relax and breathe, I was happy. A few moments later my heart felt so convicted, my attitude had stunk [more than the mans armpits]! I was so concerned about ME, and MY journey. And I didn't even have the decency to say hello or smile at the passenger sitting beside me. I felt so irritated at myself that I had let my needs and wants dictate to me. I was being selfish and I wasn't even being polite to another human being, someone who is just as valuable as me.

The thing is one of my desires in life [and it has been for many years] is that I would love the unloveable, touch the untouchable, and reach the unreachable. There have been many times that I have done that. I love people. I've grown up in a home that is always open to people, those who are marginalized and rejected by society. Our home has been filled with people from all walks of life, all issues of life, different cultures, backgrounds and religions. But, I don't want this to be just a testimony at different 'times', I want it to be my life, who I am, all the time!

I realised, as I was now sitting in my comfy seat, that I had missed an opportunity to show love and kindness to another. I don't believe I needed to talk with him the whole ride home, or join in with following our route on the map! [although I'm sure it would have been interesting]. But, a simple hello and a smile would have been enough. It says, you matter, you're important, you are welcome, you are not a face in the crowd, but you have value and you are cared for. It's amazing how we so often forget the super simple stuff. I believe that it's the really simple things, like so simple they are easy to miss, that are the most powerful. 

We have an opportunity every day to show kindness to others. If we are going to love people and care for humanity we have to be prepared to have our lives interrupted. People are messy, annoying, irritating. They have issues, need help, need love, need care, need attention.

If we are going to fulfill the great commission that God has entrusted to us, we will have to step out of our comfort zone and allow our lives to be inconvenienced for the sake of someone else.

Maybe your kids schedule will get changed, maybe you'll have to set your alarm clock a little earlier, drive a little farther or spend a little more money? Maybe you'll have to sit next to someone you wouldn't choose to? Maybe your phone bill will be a bit higher, or your dinner preparations increased?

I want to love the unlovely, touch the untouchable and reach out to those who are down trodden and forgotten. So often we think it's homeless people who are forgotten about. But quite often there are people in our families, our streets, our workplace, our churches, who have been forgotten about. Who need a friend. They need to know someone cares. 

Send a text, write a card, cook a meal. Do something to bless someone else. Talk to someone, smile at a stranger. Say yes rather than no. Invite that person into your home

Jesus stepped out of His comfort zone, He left the comfort of Heaven, to redeem a broken humanity. He touched the leppers, spent time with prostitutes, had tea with tax collectors, washed feet, served food, and had time for everyone He met. He was JESUS, the Son of God. He was busy, everyone wanted His attention, He got tired just like us, He needed time alone with His Father, just like us, but He never let His own needs and desires stop Him from reaching out to others. He was never too busy for people. He made time for others. He embraced people and He never stopped loving.

We all have responsibilities in life, and families and to do lists etc, I'm not suggesting we neglect those things to be at other people's disposal. I guess, my heart has been stirred again for humanity and I want to live a life that blesses those in my world, and those I come into contact with. I don't want to live 'me focused'. I want my days on this earth, which are so short in the light of eternity, to be a blessing.

I'm sad I missed an opportunity to show kindness to the man on the coach, I've prayed for him since, and I'm also grateful for that little experience as it was a reminder to my heart why I am on the earth.

It's not about me, it's about Jesus and others, and connecting the two! And, I believe that is ministry and that is our mission.

That was a pretty long blog, mostly my ramblings, but I hope it's encouraged you to look outwards more rather than inwards.

Be blessed :-)