You matter to God

• He looked around the earth, before I knew Him. He saw me and reached out to me.
• He chose me.
• He knows the number of hairs on my head.
• God loves me.
• I am a child of God.
• I am worthy.

We can only love others as we love ourselves. If you have respect, boundaries and love for yourself (you take care of you) then you will have plenty to give others – just like in the picture below:

If you are empty of love on the inside, you will not have all that much love to pour into those around you.

We can truly love and respect ourselves if we understand what God thinks of us… and what does He think of us? He loves us.

Friday heroes

This video should not be watched by anyone with a religious problem. A sense of humor is required

I did the Which Action Hero Would You Be? test. The results are in!!

I’m spider man

You scored as The Amazing Spider-Man. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter Parker was transformed from a nerdy high school student into New York’s greatest hero. Peter enjoys the thrill of being a super hero, but he struggles with the burdens of leading a double life. He hopes someday to win the heart of his true love Mary Jane, the woman he’s loved since before he even liked girls. Right now, he just wants to make it through college and pay his bills.

Hey… it’s pretty spot on! Who are you?

My apologies to you

I’ve been so slack lately. I haven’t been replying to your comments. I’m sorry. Forgive me? I’vegone and replied to the last 20 comments -my comments are BOLD INLINE. So just scroll down and find the comments in the sidebar and look for your name. Because my comments are inline, you won’t see my name – just yours.

God gave me a free lounge suite last night. Woooo! It was the only remaining thing that is missing from my house – having given everything away. When I get the (free!) lounge suite I’ll have a full compliment again. HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD? Then I just need a change of car and the revamp is complete! I gave everything away – in faith – and I never lacked anything. I sat on my lounge carpet for a while, but that’s it!

The other night God directly spoke a challenge to me: “Will you accept your identity?” And I knew He was saying this next year will be big and exciting – but I have to be bold and fearless, like he told Joshua to be. I knew it’s about laying aside my sad past and just walking boldly.He gave these verses to encourage me:

• Phil 2:13 – God works in you, for His purposes
• 1 John 2:27 – Trust the Anointing in you
• Rom 14:16-18 Do not let others despise your good things

I’m really coming through now and I’m really beginning to enjoy life and I’m full of hope. So… it’s going to be fun! Thank you for visiting. Thanks for being faithful. I pray you’re blessed out of your socks.

BTW – I’ve changed the theme a-gain and this one works better I think. What do you think? I wish it had custom headers though (hint hint hint WP!) – and the second sidebar is groovy, but you can’t actually put widgets in it… so it’s kinda useless (hint hint hint WP!). But WP rocks and I’m sticking with them.

The facets and shades and colors of people

I saw a woman today. She was walking along the road chatting to another woman. Gesticulating. Smiling.

I have seen her around over the years, but I haven’t seen her like this (exuding life and happiness) for many years. She looked so different. I had to wrack my memory – back to those very early memories when I first met her. She was uncomplicated back then.

I drove on, thinking about her. She looks like such a nice person. Fresh. Lovely. Uncomplicated again. In my head it was like I had a wrong image of her.

As the day has gone on, I’ve realized two things:

firstly, *I* have changed. Now I see different things in people, because *I* am different.

And secondly I have realized what what God said so many years ago is true “she is not who you think she is”. I never forgot those words. And it’s so true.

It’s possible that it wasn’t the same woman I met all those years ago. Even if it wasn’t, it was a nice trip down memory lane.

Africa

A WORLD WAR OF WORLDVIEWS. This is a very challenging article. It gets me out of my comfort zone.

I wish God would get me through whatever He is taking me through so that I can leave it all and go with Him to these places. I written it before more than twice, I am busting to go. I really want to go.

But I don’t want to go unless He goes with me. And I don’t want to go unless I go with His Holy Spirit in me – in real power. When I face the people I want it to be like He said: the people are white for harvest.

So I guess I can’t go until He has completed the preparation time in me. But oh… I want to go.

More pics

There are more pics on my flickr now. I’ve also made a YouTube homepage.

One anothering

This is one of the most important concepts (in the bible in my opinion). The phrase “one another” is used 153 times in the bible (NASB) with 103 of those being in the New Testament. The word love (a similar and related word IMHO) is used 151 times in the whole bible.

Jesus said it best:

By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]. – John 13:35

When unsaved people come into our church, do they sense the love that they have been missing all their lives? Do the believers in your church glow with something that unbelievers want? Who can resist a church where people have the characteristics shown here?

Serve one another

John 13:14 (NASB) “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

Gal 5:13 (NASB) For you were called to freedom, brethren; only {do} not {turn} your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Accept each other

Rom 15:7 (NASB) Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

Admonish (caution, warn)

Rom 15:14 (NASB) And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

1 Cor 12:25 (NASB) so that there may be no division in the body, but {that} the members may have the same care for one another.

Eph 4:25 (NASB) Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE {of you} WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Col 3:16 (NASB) Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms {and} hymns {and} spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Let someone else lead you

Eph 5:21 (NASB) and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Greet, be kind, be happy to see the other person!

Rom 16:16 (NASB) Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

1 Cor 16:20 (NASB) All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

2 Cor 13:12 (NASB) Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Eph 4:32 (NASB) Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

1 Pet 5:14 (NASB) Greet one another with a kiss of love…

Support one another

1 Cor 11:33 (NASB) So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.Gal 6:2 (NASB) Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Eph 4:2 (NASB) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

Eph 5:19 (NASB) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Phil 2:3 (NASB) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

Peace

1 Thess 5:13 (NASB) and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

Mark 9:50 (NASB) “Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty {again?} Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Fellowship and loving one another is absolutely key to having a healthy church and a growing community. Without practical honest, heartfelt love we are just like the rest of the world.

Comfort, encourage and stimulate

1 Thess 5:15 (NASB) See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.

1 Thess 4:18 (NASB) Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thess 5:11 (NASB) Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Heb 3:13 (NASB) But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is {still} called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Heb 10:24 (NASB) and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,

Heb 10:25 (NASB) not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging {one another;} and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Forgive each other, just as Jesus forgave you!

Col 3:13 (NASB) bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

James 5:16 (NASB) Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

1 Pet 1:22 (NASB) Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,

1 Pet 4:8 (NASB) Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

Be hospitable… give and serve one another

1 Pet 4:9 (NASB) Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

1 Pet 4:10 (NASB) As each one has received a {special} gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Rom 14:19 (NASB) So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Fellowship with one another is placed with walking with Jesus and having Him cleanse us.

1 John 1:7 (NASB) but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

But don’t…

1 Pet 5:5 (NASB) You younger men, likewise, be subject to {your} elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.

James 4:11 (NASB) Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge {of it.}

James 5:9 (NASB) Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

Don’t have lawsuits against other Christians… go talk to them!

1 Cor 6:7 (NASB) Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

Don’t fight, you might end up losing it all

Gal 5:15 (NASB) But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Don’t be boastful or have envy (you can ask God for what you need)

Gal 5:26 (NASB) Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Don’t lie to one another

Col 3:9 (NASB) Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its {evil} practices,

Love one another!

You probably already guessed it, but the bible is pretty clear on the need to love one another. Loving one another is a command!

John 13:34 (NASB) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 15:12 (NASB) “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

John 15:17 (NASB) “This I command you, that you love one another.

1 John 3:23 (NASB) This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.

1 John 3:11 (NASB) For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

1 Thess 4:9 (NASB) Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for {anyone} to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

The world will know us BECAUSE we love each other

John 13:35 (NASB) “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Our love towards each other must grow and increase

1 Thess 3:12 (NASB) and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also {do} for you;

2 Thess 1:3 (NASB) We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is {only} fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows {ever} greater;

Love comes from God

1 John 4:7 (NASB) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:11 (NASB) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

If we love one another, then God is within us

1 John 4:12 (NASB) … if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

2 John 1:5 (NASB) Now I ask you, lady, not as though {I were} writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

Are you loving the people around you? That’s a challenging question isn’t it? Well, don’t worry, I won’t just leave you there. In this book we explore many reasons why we don’t love other people and what you can do to grow into a person who does genuinely feel love for other people, from your heart.

Keep praying for Him to renew your heart and mind!

Action points for living a new life

Absolutely all of this is pilfered from this brilliant site. It used to be one of their quizzes. They dropped it but I still have it in Excel and I still use it. hehehe. They used to have 100 questions, but I’ve trimmed it down here.

Know what you want

God wants us to be happy. Think about Adam in the Garden of Eden – He said “be fruitful and multiply”. What can you do to be happy? Do you know what you want in your life?

Let go of your past

Most people collect unpleasantness without realizing it. Every time something unpleasant happens to you, it goes into a huge sack of other unpleasantness weighing heavily on your back. You can’t move forward in life — and especially in relationships — with this baggage.

Here are some things to consider. Can you say yes to these? If not, please work on each one until you can say yes to it.

• I do not often think of my past hurts or failed relationships
• I hold no anger or resentment toward any of the people in my past
• I have forgiven each of the people in my past
• I am not hoping to reconnect with people in my past
• I am not angry or resentful at the opposite gender
• I do not make sweeping statements about how the opposite gender is or isn’t
• I do not look down at, am not jealous or angry at the same gender
• I have forgiven myself for past relationship mistakes and choices
• I do not talk to myself badly about what I did in the past
• I am grateful for my past relationships – they helped make me who I am today

Know your needs

Everyone has needs — that’s a part of human nature. In fact, our needs create relationships. The giver and the receiver both feel better and more connected when each other’s needs are voiced and met. Yet most of us are uncomfortable asking others to meet our needs. At the same time, we enter relationships to get our needs met. See the paradox?

Figure out your needs, and then figure out which ones need to be met by your partner and which ones need to be met by other people. Get them met!

Here are some things to consider. Can you say yes to these? If not, please work on each one until you can say yes to it.

• I know everyone has needs, including me
• I know I have needs and it is vital for them to be met
• I know that someone I just met can’t meet my needs
• I know my key needs
• My top three needs get met everyday, by me
• I know the difference between healthy needs and being needy
• I recognize which situations set me up to feel needy
• I practice great self-care when I feel needy
• I consistently take great care of myself, all the time
• I have a Godly solution to some of my needs
• I get my needs met by me and friends/family

Draw your boundaries

Boundaries are there to protect you and to help you honor your needs and wants. You know you have boundaries when you can choose to say yes or no to something, someone, or a situation. You know you have boundaries when you can stop a situation that is hurting you. You know you have boundaries when you know your needs and ask others to respect them. Having boundaries makes you discerning, gives you self-respect, and inspires others to both respect you and treat you well. This is valuable skill to learn.

Here are some things to consider. Can you say yes to these? If not, please work on each one until you can say yes to it.

• I can say “no” when I need to
• It’s important for me to have boundaries to protect me
• I know clearly what my boundaries are
• I do not let people cross my boundaries
• I have a way of setting boundaries that does not offend or push people away
• I make sure I am heard when setting my boundaries
• I am being supportive of other people when I set boundaries
• I am the most important person in my life (apart from God)
• I gently but effectively educate people about my boundaries
• I respect and honor others’ boundaries

Get connected

Build a community. Get people into your life to meet your needs, to support you, to nourish you. Many people want to simply find “the one” or hope they have found “the one,” and then proceed to isolate themselves. What a stress on a relationship! Can you put all of your needs, wants, desires, and interests on one person? Do you think all of your needs will somehow be met by your Prince or Princess Charming? We all need community. We have too many needs for one person to meet them all. Get connected, and stay connected.

Here are some things to consider. Can you say yes to these? If not, please work on each one until you can say yes to it.

• I engage only in activities that bring me great pleasure and joy
• I no longer engage in activities to meet a partner – I participate for the sake of fun
• I am being me at all times in all situations
• I never use sexuality, power, or money to attract partners – I let them be attracted to who I am as a person
• I don’t expect everyone to be attracted to me
• I no longer require attention from everyone
• I don’t compare myself to others
• I readily participate in activities rather than sitting at home
• I surround myself with loving supportive friends
• I am building a healthy, vibrant, loving community of people around me
• I have dreams and goals for my life, with or without a partner
• I am working on achieving some of my life dreams and goals
• I am living my life to the fullest
• I know what work makes my soul sing and I am doing it or working on creating it
• I know what my life purpose is or I am working on figuring it out
• I know what I contribute to others or I am working on figuring it out
• I know how I want to spend my life or I am working on figuring it out
• I know where and how I want to live or I am working on figuring it out
• I know the legacy I want to leave behind or I am working on figuring it out
• I know how to give my life purpose whether or not I am in a relationship

I know it’s a lot to consider. I’ve been gradually working through these items for about 3-4 years now. I have seen a big change within myself over this time. I keep score at all my answers and see how I progress iove time (that’s why it’s in Excel).

Love others as you love yourself

Take a look at the image below. The jug is you and the cup that you are pouring love into is the other person.

Now what would happen if the jug (you) is empty of love? Would you have anything to offer to other people? No, unfortunately if you do not love yourself, you cannot love them. This is the sad truth behind so many divorces, the people tried to love their partner without loving themselves. It can never work, because the bible says you must love other people AS you love yourself.

If you are the jug (below) and you have love for yourself (boundaries, self respect, identity etc.) then you will have a lot to give to the people around you.

Look after *you*

Loving yourself is important. Look after you, then you can look after others. Too many marriages in churches break up because the person didn’t respect themselves and therefore couldn’t love their partner.

J – Love Jesus
O – Love others
Y – Love yourself

Cute huh?

Before I left

Before I left on my trip last year (2005), I received two words that the trip was going to be very hard. The trip would in effect raise the low places in my life. It did that. Holy cow. Low emotional places, long hidden from myself, were brought into the open and grieved for. I returned “a different person” as a friend said. The change involved a great deal of pain because of the change and internal honesty that was forced on me.

In taking this trip (2006), I was extremely concerned about what I was letting myself in for. Its hard to express how nervous I felt.

But this time the words given to me were all positive. This is a maternal (healing) message of God:s loving goodness and healing intentions for me:

For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; then you will be nursed, you will be carried on her hip and trotted [lovingly bounced up and down] on her [God's maternal] knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; – Is 66:12-13

And then He spoke through a lovely elder who I let be active in my life. She spoke in tongues – it sounded like a song – and then she interpretted. This is a mateship, paternal and fellowship kind of message of healing for me:

The Lord says
Have I not known you from the beginning?
Have I not cared for you and delighted in you as a son?

Now is the time to be like a young child
skipping and dancing in the field
to be strong
with the Fathers approval

I have wonderful things in store for you
good things for your life
not for ill

I am sharing this so that whoever reads this will know that if youre going through down times,　good times will follow. If you feel separated at times, as I have for many many years sometimes, intimacy can be restored and throughout all, He has His hand on us. Were His children.

What to do when you’re feeling empty inside

This post is part of a series and I recommend you read both:

• How to fill up the lonely hurt inside (newer)
• What to do when you’re feeling empty inside

Before I can explain how I recovered from feeling empty, let me explain WHY people feel empty. I want to explain how we get hurt and how we get healed.

The cycle of hurt and healing

Getting hurt and finding healing looks basically like this:

1. Hurt comes from a lack of love (abuse, rejection, lack of care or nurture etc.)
2. The restoration of love is what heals us
3. But for a very hurt person to find healthy love can be very hard, so the initial source of love must be from ourselves!

How we get hurt

We get hurt in our lives. Hurt comes from a lack of love – quite often as we are growing up. A lack of love can come in many different forms such as sexual abuse or rejection or having family that doesn’t nurture us. This forms a scar that can last for a lifetime. The scar feels like emptiness inside. Feeling empty inside is another way of saying that I feel alone or lost or like I don’t have the warmth of love inside.

The rest of this post explains all of this in much more detail with lots of biblical evidence.

God has a better plan – it won’t be like this forever

I have spent most of my life feeling SO empty inside that I had NO IDEA what the warmth of love is like. As I spend time here with my family in the UK, as I sit with them, I actually feel a warmth flow over me. It’s an unbelievable feeling. I don’t recognise it, but I know it is a very very good feeling. The day is brighter, the sun feels like it’s shining on me – just me! Everything just feels good.

Is this why Jesus commanded us to love one another? May be read my post on One anothering

How we recover from emptiness inside

If we became hurt because of a lack of love, then finding love from the people around us is how we will recover. It sounds easy, but it takes time and patience to do it. But it works. Oh it works so well!

Love can come to us in many ways. Love is respect, it is kindness, it is patience, it is all the fruits of the spirit. Now, it would be great if you could just go up to someone and say “please could you love me, I need love”. But in our society that doesn’t happen.

Do not underestimate our need for love

The thief (satan) comes to destroy, steal and kill (by warping society with abortion, divorce and emotional hurt) while Jesus came to teach us about love for one another and about God’s intense love for us.

It is well known that babies must be cuddled, otherwise they can die. In hospitals people are emplyed JUST to cuddle babies!

Emptiness and the burning feeling

Burning is a more intense feeling that emptiness for those who don’t know. The burning feeling inside sometimes felt so bad sometimes that it felt like molten lava flowing inside me. This is a very severe sign of a lack of love. I’m wriitng this so that if you feel this way, I want you to know that I KNOW how it feels, that you’re NOT alone… and most especially that you know that I got better and you will too. Jesus loves you. He died for you to be free from problems like this.He absolutely wants you to live an abundant life!

So… sometimes I would have this terrible burning feeling inside me. I felt so awful inside, I thought I was slowly dying. One day I felt this way while I was at church. I knew that I needed a “mommy type” to hug me just for a moment. I know some readers will know this feeling. I asked a really wonderfully caring lady for a hug and simply absorbed as much of her warmth as possible. Unfortunately her husband took that the wrong way (I guess?) and many years later he still has “issues” with me. His insecurity (also known as offense) stopped him from being able to take action to help the broken hearted (me!)

Another kind man once wanted to bring me into his family. I was overwhelmed by his offer. Just the fact that he recognised me as one of the fatherless generation (which God loves dearly!) and wanted to help me was a tremendous turning point in me for my life. I felt loveable. I felt like I mattered to someone. But unfortunately internal family politics probably sunk that idea right away. It never happened.

I’m not having a “dig” at anyone, I’m saying to anyone reading this that it’s difficult for people to change their ways and lives to help you. It’s not common in the church today – in my experience. I know God wants it to be the defining characteristic

By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]. – Jn 13:35

He is working to turn His church into a loving and radiant bride. It will take time. So for now, you might have to find another way to get love into your life. I’ll describe (below)one of the alternatives you have – to love yourself in a healthy way.

Recovery – Jesus has a plan for your life!

So yes, it would be great to get love from people around us and in a church which is centered on love, this would be possible. But the church is not currently centered on His one command, it is centered on a lot of other theology.I’m going to be very honest with you about this one thing. It was very tough for people to love me. I was so used to being alone that I didn’t recognise their love, I didn’t know how to respond to it and I couldn’t respond back.

It is very hard to effectively love a very dysfunctional person, believe me. The person may have isolated themselves without even knowing it. They might also be offensive, because hurt people are the ones who hurt other people (hurt people hurt people).

But Jesus commanded us to love one another so we (the church) must learn to make the effort anyway. And it works! Love is very very healing!

And we must be like this (loving one another) as a community – that is what is called the church.

Jesus said the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go look for the 1 who got lost… Jesus loves the one… Jesus wants that 1 to be back in with the other sheep.

I don’t think that we can understand ourselves if we’re not in community with each other. That is the meaning of the word Ubuntu – I am because we are

The positive cycle that you can begin

If we could get some love into our lives, we’d recover and then we’d get a bit better, we could then find more love, more easily, then we’d recover a bit more… and so it goes. Getting better and better.

But if it’s hard for people to connect with us, and hard for us to connect with people at first… then where will your first source of love come from?

The bible says you must love yourself:

1. Leviticus 19:18 (OLD Testament!)
   “Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
   
2. Matthew 19:19
   Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “
3. Matthew 22:39
   A second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’
   
4. Mark 12:31
   The second is equally important: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
   
5. Luke 10:27
   The man answered, ” `You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
   
6. Romans 13:9
   For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting–and any other commandment–are all summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
   
7. Galatians 5:14
   For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
8. James 2:8
   Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord’s royal command found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

This is the very first place you can begin to find love. when you have begun to respect yourself, have good boundaries for yourself, when you get to know what you like and enjoy and DO those things – that’s when life get’s a whole lot easier.

At the same time we are to love God – and that makes sense because He is the source of the love, He is the source of all good things in this world! He is a God of love!

And we’re also asked to love others too. Love others as you love yourself. I have written extensively on those topics, but this post is focussing on the absolutely important need to love yourself. Not to “fall in love” with yourself, not to think you’re all that matters – but to have kindness for yourself.

Learn to play

For those who have the empty feeling inside, if you’re like I was, I couldn’t see the fun in life. I felt bad and ate (or did other things) to change my mood. Food and coffee (and other things) helped me feel better.

I did good things to change my mood too. I used to worship a LOT (I still do). I am sure that helped me become who I am, because God is a wonderful God and getting near to Him and staying near definitely helped me survive.

But He wants us to do more than survive. He is a good God!

Go to a zoo and look at the animals. The ones that are playing are healthy. The zoo keepers watch for animals who don’t play – they are sick. The same goes for children.The same goes for you and me.

What do you like doing? If you’re like I was… I couldn’t write a list, because I didn’t know myself. I had not learned to have fun and I had not explored my own personality.
Learn to go for a walk if that’s what you like doing. Avoid people who are mean or nasty to you. Have a bubble bath with with EXTRA bubbles… and candles and your fav music and play with the bubbles!

Ride a mountain bike. Plant some bulbs and watch them grow in spring. Find a good friend and talk to him/her. Paint your house. Save up for a n overseas trip. Have fun! What is it you like doing?

Avoid negative Christian messages

I had become trapped by the “deny yourself” teaching within the church. Avoid teaching like this. Just get up and leave. If you’re unable to make your own decisions because you have become trapped by “submission theology” where you MUST listen to the pastor, then wait until the end of the service and THEN leave. Either way, leave unhealthy Christian environments. And perhaps pray for them. God can heal those people too.

I used to pray to God that I was unworthy – I didn’t know that in fact He sees me as worthy! He loves me. Avoid prayers like this. Thank Him for His love for you.

I used to think I needed to “become less, so He could become more” as John the Baptist said. Until God said to me, “well in your case… you must become more” in a wry sense of humor. Since then I have learned that John the baptist was simply saying that his own reputation must decrease so Jesus’ leadership and reputation can increase. It’s not spiritual or emotional, it’s just a practical issue… like the bible always is!

These negative images of me, taught from the pulpit, would come with such force and authority that I’d often go into a spiral that would burn inside me for 3-4 days. Only prayer and worship would restore me to a sense of God’s value of me.

So now my prayer is:

“Lord, I want to value myself as You value me.

Lord I want to have self-esteem as you esteem me”.

The thing is, God values you. God esteems you. He loves you! Would you suffer and die for someone you didn’t love? No way!

Find a church that sees the best in you, listen to teaching which tells you that God loves you. You will love Him back and then He will use you! That’s how it works!

Can I just wait for God to heal me?

No, being passive and waiting for healing usually doesn’t work. Why? Because although Jesus is Lord, but what the church must learn is that He works through people. He CAN heal by Himself, but He is trying to work with people to build a radiant church. The radiance is God’s love being shown through us and our lives.

Get started today on your abundant life

• Begin to love yourself… or find out how.
• Have respect for yourself and boundaries… or find out how.
• Find out about what you like and DO those things. It’s ok to be good to yourself.

The more boundaries you have and understand, the more you’ll respect yourself. If you respect yourself, you’ll be able to respect others. If you respect others they will respond more warmly to you. Pretty soon you’ll be able to see who is hurting you and stop spending so much time with them, you’ll begin to spend more time with new and more kind people.

At first when things got better I felt guilty, like I was not meant to feel good, so somehow this was wrong. It’s not wrong. It’s ok. Keep loving God and worshiping Him and keep praying and keep doing the one command He gave us… to love one another. You’ll see… no matter how good your life gets and how good it feels… He’s still right there.

The simple logic

If you love others and they love you back, you’ll have lots of love in your life right? If you have love in your life, you’ll be less likely to look at women (or men) in the wrong way, less likely to be down and then over-eat or hurt yourself or hurt others. Love is healing – that is why satan (the destroyer) is hell-bent on damaging people’s emotions and then causing them to hurt each other and be selfish.

Jesus explained the solution – to love God and to love one another (and to love ourselves… in a healthy way).

Take a rest… Jesus did!

Perhaps you’re TOO active, then take a rest. Did you know that Jesus told His disciples to do exactly that?

And He said to them, [As for you] come away by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while–for many were [continually] coming and going, and they had not even leisure enough to eat. – Mark 6:31

Forgive, but keep good boundaries (protect yourself)

God doesn’t require you to forget, just to forgive and let it go, let it drop:

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go),

in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop. – Mark 11:25

Let go of those old arguments, let go of what was done to you. Forgiving will result in you letting go and moving on. Forgiving is GOOD for you because if you forgive then God will forgive you too!

But even when you forgive, you don’t need to restore the relationship, you don’t have to go back into an abuse situation. Just forgive and let go and move on. Onwards and upwards!

More warmth inside is your destiny

Surrounded more and more with healthier and healthier people, you’ll feel more and more warmth in your life. The emptiness will be gone and you’ll be free to love God and love others even more than ever before. Remember, God wants you to live abundant life! Do you know why? Because He believes that if He first loves us, then we will love Him back and we will want to spread the good news about Him to other people.

I know that is true for me. He gave me the ability to grow so fast and to heal so fast – and now I just want other people to know that He is good and He can help them too.

Keep on reading

Leave a comment on this page if you’d like? Use a pretend name if you’re not sure you want to reveal your actual name. For further reading maybe try this post Emotional healing… what’s it like? or read some of my other posts on healing. I have written a companion post that you might benefit from reading: How to fill up the lonely hurt inside.  Get into the discussion. Share your experiences. Help someone. Receive help from someone too perhaps.

These posts might also help you:

• Love God, love others, love yourself – a biblically balanced life 
• Getting out of depression (learned helplessness) by learning to be optimistic 

and also try

• Heal your identity – it will help to fill the emptiness inside
• A vital step to health – thankfulness
• Seeing the truth, accepting, forgiving and recovering

This is a post about forming deeper relationships that let us feel connected and warm inside

• Creating deep intimacy (into-me-see) in relationships 

Or try some other posts that I wrote:

• Why does the bible say to love yourself?
• God has a plan to prosper you… what to do while you wait
• Emotional healing… what’s it like?

This is a post about growing:

• Fantasy stops us growing into adults

God loves you!

People are inventing new ways to sin

I am excited that so many people (33% of the world) have seen the light of Jesus and His ability to heal and restore… but what concerns me is what so many others are doing.

Paul said it well: people are inventing new ways to sin.

Slanderers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, [and] boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents. – Rom 1:30

Although I am excited that Jesus has paid for the sins of many people in this world, but the sins of the others remain a source of anger for God.

We murder babies in the womb in the name of “personal choice”. We “let the market decide” as we ignore the poor and their needs. We look at pornorgraphy and governments refuse to implement “adult” filters to protect children and families. In the name of capitalism, the strong prey on the weak and it’s accepted.

Justice, kindness and mercy is a foreign concept in the world and it is offensive in God’s eyes. It is only God who is able to decide what is right or wrong in this world. He has identified what is right and what is wrong in His scripture. He has repeatedly taken action against “evil doers” (people who do evil in His sight).

So many people are now doing evil and in such terrible ways, that this behaviour cannot continue to go on for too long… before God will take strong action.

We do not need to run after evil and self-interest. We can turn to Jesus and be restored to God. It is possible, it’s just that we don’t know how to do it or we don’t believe it will work – even if we do try.

Perhaps God will do something to His church and make it radiant – attracting the lost and helpless who are fighting for survival. Perhaps a radiant church can show the people that there truly is an alternative, a better way.

But will we respond? Will we partner with Him to build such a church of believers?

We are making great progress!

This is such a good post by Kendra. I began to write a comment, but decided to write post here instead.

It’s encouraging to know that other people also see that the level of attack is increasing. I suspect it’s increasing because I doubt it could ever have remained at this level for the years before!

Why is the attack higher? Well, here are some things to consider:

1. 1 in 7 people on planet Earth is saved, the ratio is getting lower and lower every year. Think about that. It’s tremendous.
2. We are selling more bibles than ever before. That’s the most printed book ever. The second most printed book is: A purpose driven life, how cool is that?
3. More people are listening to worship music in homes, cars, iPods and at work (in my case) than ever before!
4. China has 120 million Christians currently. China’s churches plan to send out 10 MILLION missionaries! Their goal is to sweep west from China across the 10 40 window to Jerusalem
5. There is a flood of revival (6,000 new churches from Iris Ministries in southern africa alone!) sweeping up Africa, also with a goal of reaching Jerusalem
6. Around the world 210,000 people come to Christ EACH DAY (accurately measured by names and addresses) and in China alone 35,000 PER DAY. Awesome!

God is flooding the world more than ever before. Sure there is still some way to go before the full number of the gentiles comes in, but let’s get excited!

The enemy seems to have a few strategies (not that I’m a researcher or anything):

• Keep us from seeing the exciting truth
• Keep us from seeing that we are sons and daughters of God and we are to inherit from Him as we mature on our walk
• Keep us in low self esteem so we don’t even try, we just give up
• Keep us from seeing that he (the enemy) exists and is in fact the core problem
• If he can keep us satisfied, passive and entertained we won’t give money, won’t speak out and won’t stand up
• Attack (using sex, money, intimidation, etc.) any generation that attempts to stand up and get their inheritance

I have had a vision for a while. I see many many thousands of people (maybe millions) rising up simultaneously all around the world. So many people rising up that the enemy cannot stop the uprising (he cannot be everywhere, because he has limited resources).

You can support the uprising. You can gain your inheritance which Jesus made for you. You need only discover who you are in Jesus.

It’s a new beginning

I want to encourage you, please learn about what Jesus did for you. Enter into what He has done for you. He made a way for you to walk out of all kinds of bondage – emotional, spiritual, addictions, mental and physical.

A new life

It’s not the same-old same-old. Not at all. It’s something entirely different, entirely new. It’s a new start to life, a new creation, an offloading of the old man and an accepting of a new life in Him.

Let’s listen to Jesus’ own words:

John 3:1-7 : Born from Above

There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.”

Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”

“How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?”

Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.

When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak.

You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”

Legally it’s over

Legally-speaking we take on Jesus’ righteousness and receive justification through Him.

We must first abandon our own efforts to achieve those things. We simply give up trying to make ourselves right and we takeon what He has done.

That is simply how we enter into His life and we when our sin is cleared out of the way (it doesn’t stand between us and God) then we live in a growing intimacy with our Father in heaven.

He takes us into the promised land of total and complete reconciliation and all the promises/blessings/inheritance of God become YES and AMEN to us because of our decision to base our righteousness in what Jesus Christ has done for us!

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. – 2 Cor. 1:20-22

Baptism… a memorable & visible act of faith

That’s why baptism can be a crucial moment in a believer’s life, because it’s the exact moment when you declared BY FAITH in a public act, that you have entered into His life and you are now hidden in Him and you no longer rely on your own righteous acts to get into a right relationship and into an intimate embrace with our Father in heaven.

Right… I’m off!

You know how the one season ends and a new one begins? Well, this is probably the last new covenant (God’s Kingdom) post for a while.

I’m about to go to Israel and enjoy my holidays and spend time just with God and worship Him on the Mount of Olives with my MP3 player blaring in my ears. Ah… the Mt of Olives… where He will be returning one day (to wipe away every tear) just as He left from there.

I’ll still be blogging, just on different topics.

Offensive-defense and restoration

I’ve travelled to London and I’ve stayed with my brother and his family. It’s been great.

Before I left (and since then while travelling) I’ve been blogging about the Kingdom of God and specifically about how to overcome the enemy and see him flee from us.

Attack

From the day of the first blog post about defeating satan in your life, I have come under very severe attack. The more clearly that I’ve spoken out about what Jesus has done for us, the more I’ve had spiritual attack. This was not unexpected and I’m quite used to it in my life.

I heard Joyce Meyer say on TV yesterday:

Too many Christians are hiding away and cowering… and if they learned how to go onto the OFFENSIVE, they wouldn’t be on the DEFENSIVE so much!

Sounds like her eh? I couldn’t agree more.

One thing I like to remind myself is that if the enemy does manage to knock me down (and he doesn’t any more – not like he used to when I was just learning to overcome) but if he does, then we stumble but we do not fall, because he only ever manages to knock me to my knees. hehehehe. Just where I needed to be.

And do you know what? In the process I became an overcomer!

I have seen God work. I have seen Him restore me and friends around me. I have seen all kinds of things.

I have learned that ALL good things come from Him and all bad things come from the enemy.

Jesus is Lord

I couldn’t begin to list the number of things that my friends have seen me recover from.

I don’t take tablets, I just stick out my finger and aggressively say “Jesus is Lord of this problem” and I ask God for His help. Badda-bing-badda-boom, we win. Sometimes it’s instantaneous, sometimes it takes a while, one time it took several weeks.

But always we win. Always.

Lately I’ve been asking God about the blessings of Abraham – which include restoration of everything, including my finances – and since declaring that Jesus is Lord of my finances too, my finances have turned around too! I realised yesterday that my business has turned around and is zooming upwards again.

You see? Everything is slowly being brought under His feet until the final thing is placed under Jesus feet – and then He gives them all to the Father. What does the bible say?

After that comes the end (the completion), when He delivers over the kingdom to God the Father after rendering inoperative and abolishing every [other] rule and every authority and power.

For [Christ] must be King and reign until He has put all [His] enemies under His feet.

The last enemy to be subdued and abolished is death. – 1 Corinthians 15:24-26

And we the church are His body on this earth. We’re the vehicles through which this will happen. (This is not a political statement by the way!).

It works!

I try never to talk about theology that I have not personally seen working in my life. No second hand advice here. I talk about what I know to be true through first hand experience.

Here’s what I know to be true: bit by bit my life has been restored, yours can be too!

Emerging church #3 – Is it God’s plan for missions?

In doing the research for Emerging church #2 – why is this happening now? I saw some stats here: Status of Global Mission, 2005 research from the Center for the Study of Global, which is a research center dedicated to measuring Christianity and world religions.

Those stats were not available when I wrote More stats on our progress!

Here are some of the stats that grab my attention.

Unevangelized % of world

AD 1900 – 54.3%
AD 1970 – 44.4%
AD 2000 – 28.3%
AD 2005 – 27.9%

I made a graph to visualize these stats

I then included their stats containing their predictions up to 2025

The stats for unreached people’s in 2000-2005 are pretty much level. Almost flat-lining. Why?

The total number of Christians as % of the world

In 1900 – 35%
In 1970 – 33.4%
In mid-2000 – 33%
In mid-2005 – 33.1%
In 2025 – 33.1 (predicted)

The stats for the % of Christians in the world – hovering at 33% – it’s also flat. Why?

How can we have flat lines for both unreached people and for the number of believers? The number of bibles in the world went up by 20% in the last 5 years and there is a significant increase of money available to the church – but all of this is only maintaining the status quo. Why?

In my previous post (Emerging church #2 – why is this happening now?) I used those same research statistics to show that the fundamental shift that is occurring is primarily because of the change in literacy, urbanization and communications (telephone, internet, etc.) As the population in the mega-cities grow, no doubt the mega-churches will expand to accommodate those people.

The % should not drop from the growth in the population and the existing wineskin can take care of that… but what do we do to increase the growth? I’ve shown that growth is stalled and we have hit some kind of ceiling – what could that ceiling be? I’m about to suggest that we NEED to go through a Revolution like George Barna suggests. We NEED the emerging church to happen in order to grow a certain kind of Christian. New wine goes into a new wineskin.

There is a reason why our growth has stalled. It’s called: The 10/40 Window!

I’ve felt called to this area (in particular to help orphans) since I was 17. I can remember excitedly chattering away to my girlfriend of the time (Belinda) about the orphans and the orphanage software we could build to rehabilitate lives. I’ve always been a dreamer. I’ve always wanted to be used by God.

More than 3.2 billion people live in the 10/40 area. (Source: Mission Frontier) 95% of the people living in the 10/40 Window are unevangelized.

That is the reason our growth has slowed and is flat lining. The full number of the gentiles is almost in and the non-10/40 world is close to saturation. To continue growing and to complete the job, we have to focus on the 10/40 area. The list of Christian missions has already begun to show the shift. At the time of writing this, the latest two entries are in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Here is a site which is dedicated to praying about the 10/40 window. If you’re into prayer, pray for the emerging church.
So how does the emerging church relate to the 10/40 window? The major characteristic of this revolution, the emerging church, is quite similar to what is happening in the underground Chinese church. People are reorganizing into small groups and that have leadership which seeks God intensely. These small groups operate in a highly relational way and are highly independent, while still pulling towards one goal.

The goal the Chinese underground church has is to send out 10 MILLION missionaries into the 10/40 window and to evangelize across the continent until they reach Jerusalem. (There are currently 429,000 missionaries in the world in 2002. 64,000 of those are from the USA.)

This 10/40 area can only be reached on a highly relational basis. The missionaries that go in there will need to work in a very personal way and be very good at working in small groups. It will be a decade (or three) before Baghdad has a mega church. This will need to be done in small groups… this is perfect for the kind of missionaries that the emerging church will generate and produce.

It’s really quite clever! Our God is a great big God. Be excited, be very excited.

I’m very keen to hear your thoughts (positive or negative) and your dreams of being used by God (or not).

Emerging church #2 – why is this happening now?

In my previous post Emerging church I listed some of the threads that are happening around the web and some opinions on why this is happening now.

In this post I’ll give my own thoughts on why we’re seeing such a big shift happening.

Take a look at this Status of Global Mission, 2005 research from the Center for the Study of Global, which is a research center dedicated to measuring Christianity and world religions.

Firstly, I see that approximately half of the world population is now urbanised. This means the gospel is far easier to spread because people literally live in the same city as you do. It also means that people can meet up more easily and different kinds of gatherings. (When we all lived on farms we didn’t need to have discussions about emerging ways of gathering together etc.)

Secondly, the world is rapidly (as a %) becoming literate – this means that people can get a copy of the bible and read it for themselves. The power of scaremongering and heresay reduces significantly when people can read about the life of Jesus for themselves. The result of education is that people can think for themselves – they should! God doesn’t want automatons or robots, He wants partners to spread the good news about Jesus. He gave us a brain to think, not to be mindless.

In 2025 it is estimated the literate population will be 5,015,884,000 and nonliterate population will be 934,703,000 – 82% of the world population will be literate – this is an even more fertile ground for evangelism!

In mid-2005 we have 4,500 cities which have over 100,000 people! We have 440 cities that each contain over 1 million people! No wonder we’re seeing mega-churches… we have mega-cities!

This is a lot of people who can connect and reconnect in entirely new ways. I say new ways, because we you have a critical volume of anything then you will see new combinations and recombinations of those old combinations. New relationships will form, new ways of doing things that were not possible before.

With the internet, everyone has a pulpit and the Holy Spirit can encourage anyone to have a blog. It’s free. It’s immediately dissemanated through Technorati and the other republishing sites… and each blog will uniquely idnetify that person’s interest and focus. It is their pulpit – regardless of whether they went to seminary or not.

So that’s my take on why we’re seeing this enormous shift in the fabric of church… because society itself has changed significantly.

Emerging church (Barna: Revolution)

This is a quick tour of what I see happening in the change in some church cultures.

Check out this book: Revolution by George Barna.

“This groundswell of spiritual passion and intensity is likely to amount to a Third Great Awakening in the United States, but with a very different look, feel and outcome than previous religious upheavals. In many ways, this new move back to God is designed to return the American Church to its roots – its first-century roots, as depicted in Acts 2.”

Here is another guy who is plugging the whole “emergent” church, subsequently renamed to “emerging church” because “emergent” is trademarked.

Here are some reasons given for the change:

The world is changing politically, from Cold War era to a post-communist era, from a world of conventional and nuclear war to a world of terrorism and genocide, from a colonial world to a post-colonial one (or perhaps to a neo-colonial one).

It is changing philosophically, from modern to postmodern, from a world of absolutes and certainty to a world of questions and searching, of challenge and anxiety, of opportunity and danger.

It is changing socially and economically, as a growing global economy and the rise of the internet and other global media make the world seem smaller and more connected, yet also more fragmented and tense.

It is also changing spiritually as religions of the world cope with new challenges and opportunities … religious and ethnic strife … the loss of confidence in traditional authorities … the shift of Christianity’s strength from the global north to the global south.

He had lunch with George Barna and wrote about the conversation.

Barna quickly interjected that the entire Emergent movement in the U.S. was simply a ‘reaction’ — stemming primarily from conservative fundamentalist groups. And although some proponents such as McLaren were getting a lot of press, the emergent movement (when compared with the “revolutionaries” he had been studying) was rather insignificant. Frankly, I was floored.

NEO-this and post-that…

This statement was very interesting to me:

When we spoke about the “Generation ‘O’” phenomenon, and how increasing numbers of former evangelicals are pursuing more ancient expressions of our faith — again, Barna retorted by writing the whole thing off as an isolated agenda that Robert Webber had created and was pushing. But when I pushed the issue further, citing the rise in neo-monasticism (something he himself had mentioned during his talk), he acknowledged that, yes, it was on the rise…

What the heck is neo-monasticism? In that article it also mentions these words “the ancient-future phenomenon”, which I think refers to how in this ultra modern world, people are trying to go back to the book of Acts.

Now there are emerging synagogues? What next?

Amusingly, I’ve even found that some people are already post-emergent. Already? So soon?

Woooah, I should have taken the blue pill

Confused? Me too!

I was very relieved to find this article: Understanding the Emerging Church which then groups all the differing approaches / opinions / strategies into three categories:

– Relevants.

There are a good number of young (and not so young) leaders who some classify as “emerging” that really are just trying to make their worship, music and outreach more contextual to emerging culture.

– Reconstructionists.

The reconstructionists think that the current form of church is frequently irrelevant and the structure is unhelpful. Yet, they typically hold to a more orthodox view of the Gospel and Scripture. Therefore, we see an increase in models of church that reject certain organizational models, embracing what are often called “incarnational” or “house” models. They are responding to the fact that after decades of trying fresh ideas in innovative churches, North America is less churched, and those that are churched are less committed.

– Revisionists.

Revisionists are questioning (and in some cases denying) issues like the nature of the substitutionary atonement, the reality of hell, the complementarian nature of gender, and the nature of the Gospel itself.

A bit of sanity

Here is some writing from a blogger that I follow: Emergent Church — something of what I see…

The conversation typically challenges “top-down” styles of leadership, the mega-church approach, where “the professionals” do everything. It’s about smaller-groups, the house church movement, hearing God together, doing what it takes to help everyone fulfill their God-given desires. The “new” theology questions the effectiveness of the “Wal-Mart Church ” concept (“get all your spiritual needs met under one roof”), where the voice of God comes to the people primarily through the voice of the pastor.

The authentic community cannot be simulated. It either is or it is not.

…

The Emergent Church is the “church within the church,” it is about sharing life and resources and ideas and allowing our lives to significantly impact each other toward greater impact in changing our world.

Pseudo-communities give themselves away. It’s top down leadership no matter what the leadership says it is.

…

This post has a lot of intelligent things to say about the difference between the two styles.

What is my take?

I honestly think there is room for all approaches and we need to be tolerant of all the different needs that people have (The wineskin proverb).

Must everyone go to a church? Here’s what the bible has this to say on the topic:

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near. – Hebrews 10:25

So there you have it. As Christians we must meet together. What shape or format is not terribly important, what matters is that we encourage and warn each other.

No matter if you’re in a mega-church or in a home church or cell group or if you’re just a band of brothers who meet together – if you’re meeting together and loving one another (Love your neighbor as yourself) then you’re right in the thick of it, you’re doing the right thing.

So that’s my take, what’s yours? I’d like to hear. Email me.

PS – I had a lot of fun with the pics. Heh. Added a bit of spice to a big complicated topic.

Yesterday – A bus tour, Hillsong London, a decision

A bus tour

I went for a tour on the original bus co which includes a ferry to Greenwich. So great!

Hillsong

Then in the evening I went to London Hillsong in the Dominion Theatre at Tottenham Court. I knew I was nearby the church when I came out the station – I could see so many clean people walking around.

It was great. As usual. I really like the pastor there.

There are tons of sex shops around that area and there was a gay mardi gras or something nearby – what a mission field!

I went to the markets in Greenwich (see my flickr pics) and went to the east-west line – which way was the wind blowing?

and I saw this authentic Brazil soccer shirt… only £5. I bought it and wondered aloud why I’m buying it, I have no idea who to give it to. I even told the guy I bought it from.

As I was waiting for the service to begin, I made friends with this homeless guy – and he said to me “are you using that shirt?” and so I knew it was for him. I gave it to him. He was blown away and I told him I was going to the church just over there.

As I waited in line for Hillsong to open (and the line went down the road and around the corner and then down that road!) a guy who was down and out came begging. I was the only person to give him money for the food he clearly needed. He looked at me in a weird way because I gave him money. How sad that with THOUSANDS of Christians around, no one else was helping him.

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

A decision

And me… well, today I am buying a ticket to Israel. Yeah! You think I’m nuts right? But I’m not. I have a hope that I’ll go to Jerusalem and find other Christians there and pray with them. I don’t know who, I don’t know where – and that’s how I like it. Woooo! You can see past pics from last year’s visit to Israel here.

Three days ago I became a creationist

I didn’t want to, it doesn’t make sense to me, I didn’t plan on it, don’t blame me – but apparently it’s true.

I was watching revelationtv.com (which has a really inspiring vision). My other fav show is “What God Can Do For You“, they have excellent teaching, available online.

I had it all worked out you know? God evolved the world in a day and it was born mature – like Adam and Even were. Adam and Eve didn’t grow up, they popped up fully grown. They were born mature, so why couldn’t the earth be born mature – with all the dinosaurs and things already having happened?

But… but… this Aussie guy was making such good points. The dinosaur bones that are being found had cancer in them and trees had thorns.

So?

Well, this is a problem because thorns and sickness did not exist before the fall. So… how could dinos have cancer before the fall? They can’t. So therefore they existed AFTER the fall. And he pointed out that the bones must have been covered really quickly in order to survive.

Mathematically apparently only 16 thousand animals are required to rebuild the main lines of species (not including the dinoaurs obviously) and 16,000 animals would only take only 1/3rd of the available space on the ark – because it was such a huge vessel.

Gah. I had it all figured out! I had managed to avoid confronting this topic. Now this! So it turns out Geoff was right! He’ll be SO pleased to read this! (Maybe he won’t notice this post… hehehehe)

Top 9 most popular posts in the last 30 days

Out of 173 posts, these are the top 9 most viewed posts in the last 30 days, according to WordPress:

God has a plan to prosper you… what to do while you wait 71 views

One anothering 69 views

Men and women… the art of getting together 46 views

What to do when you’re feeling empty inside 28 views

Where are the male christian bloggers? 27 views

How to pray – Jesus style! 22 views

What I do when I’m feeling blah 15 views

We love Him, because He first loved us 13 views

Jesus’ one command… and the enormous promises 13 views

Interesting huh? Where is the “Kingdom” stuff? I do love it that the “love” posts are so popular.

What’s next Papa?

So far I’ve been explaining how to get into the promised land. I hope that at least a few people have chosen to go in?!

Restoration first

But once you’re in… what then? Well firstly God begins to drive out the beasts that have taken over the land (restoring you, healing you, restoring your abundance, restoring your intimacy with Him).

After our restoration

But then what? The bible says that God said to the Israelite men that after they had been established, after the wives had begun to settle in their news houses, the men are to go back out and help their brothers come into their land.

Yeah. YEEEAAAHHH!!! Now this is what I’ve been waiting for my WHOLE life. It’s just a few years away… and I’m still young (especially at heart!) AWESOME!!

But I have to be patient while God restores me and establishes me. Gaaah! Lord, can you do it a bit faster?

I want to go help others in. What I had in mind is captured so well in this blog post…

Thousands of people ran to the bush runway, clouds of dirt flying, children laughing and singing. Rolland landed our little Cessna on the rough grass. The joy never ends!

The hunger among the people brings delight to the heart of Jesus. Masses came from all over Malawi to worship the One who is altogether beautiful.

Thousands have come to meet Jesus and be healed. I called all the deaf to the rickety platform to be healed. All twelve who came forward were miraculously able to hear.

What a tremendous time to be alive! During each outreach, Jesus shines His love and glory on the people.

We continue to plant churches in the north of Mozambique at an astounding rate. The missions students from fifteen countries have joined our Mozambican pastors and children enabling us to do four outreaches a week.

Thousands of Muslims are surrendering their hearts to Jesus. – Hunger Among The People, Iris Ministries

Well, that’s just for starters Lord, maybe we can work our way up from there – the whole world beckons!!

The Message version of the bible captures my inner excitement so well:

So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life.

God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”

God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!

We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him! – Romans 8:12-17

Woohoo! Who’s excited?

Now just in case you’re excited and you want to join in… here’s how.

Step 1: First you have to get free of that old life… how? By faith you get into the righteousness and justification that Jesus has made for you. Simply BELIEVE what Jesus has done for you. Say “thanks Lord”.

Step 2: Stay in the faith of what Jesus did for you and He will restore you to intimacy with Himself – that IS His promise. He will give you the blessings of Abraham. Healing. Restoration.

Step 3: Establish a home and a family (is this optional Lord?) and then go out and help others come in.

Onward and upward!

An evangelist for the day

Yesterday was a great day

I blogged for a few hours, writing the healing post (What to do when you’re feeling empty inside) and then set off, thinking I had spent most of the day already. But the Big Man had things in store, just like He said He would.

So I caught a train into central London. Went to the usual places – Piccadilly, Leicester, Covent… all good. Then headed over to walk in Hyde Park. I needed a walk. I went to speakers corner. hehehe.

Evangelising Moslems at speakers corner

I disciplined myself to just listen. This evanglist/preacher dude was doing sooo well. I was praying for him. The crowd grew. It was all good.

But then some moslem people came along. He didn’t have respect for them and he wouldn’t engage them. They made some really strong comments about the bible and he didn’t sort the issue out.

After a while I couldn’t contain myself – I found myself lifting my hand and saying out loud “you’re wrong” and it was all on!! Pretty soon the moslem leader and I were discussing Paul, Jesus, the OT, prophets, Jacob and Ishmael… it was all on!

I know a bit about the koran and so I was able to point out some things that he might not have expected. I also poined out that he has no power over Jinn and that his followers have to go to magicians to handle the Jinn… but we Christians have authority over Jinn and over sickness. This was a telling difference.

We talked about why he could work so hard in his life and yet still not know if he is going to heaven. And then even if he thought he was, he’d still have to cross the thin chord that links this world and heaven (in his view) and if he falls off it, he falls into hell. His only choice is to KEEP THE LAW. But as a Christian Christ has done that FOR me, so I am safe!

He was very very prepared to defend his faith and very ready to argue that I am wrong. In the end the only way through to this man would be

1. To demonstrate the power of the risen Jesus over the things of this world
2. To love him and see the best in him

It was a fabulous time. I liked the man very much, I felt this way last year in Israel too – I have respect for these people. In fact I’d say we had great respect for each other. We talked reasonably with intelligence. I quieted the rowdy Christians, he calmed the rowdy moslems. We met half way and it was fantastic.
I ended the conversation, thanked him for the conversation – he was a brilliant guy – and I went and bought him a halaal ice cream to show him love. He thanked me over the noise of the small passionate crowd… and then he turned back and verbally laid into someone else with his characteristic passion and volume.

I walked along the serpentine river, up and back down again. Noticing people, the river, the flowers in summer bloom, noticing how different it felt to be here when compared with previous years. I have changed inside so much.

Ben

I then went back to Leicester Square and had dinner. Fish. Yum. Then I walked down to the river and then across the bridge. God had been guiding me because I saw the same person begging that I saw in the morning. You know when God lights up someone to you? They almost look like an angel or something. You just know you have to talk to them.

I had seen Ben in the morning and now again. So I stopped. We chatted. He is in a bad situation, an American that the USA won’t repatriate or help and his visa in the UK has expired and he can’t get help from the local government. He begs for the food he eats. Only recently has he stopped sleeping in abandoned buildings.

I used my new found evangelism gift to talk with him about God and Jesus and to share that I too had been down and out when I was about 20 or so. I could tell him with absolute confidence that I had turned to God and He had restored me, and God could restore him (Ben) too.

And then a funny thing happened. I had previously bought new trainers. On the flight over they began to not fit me. I wondered if I was growing? Then that morning my feet seemed bigger still and my shoes were not fitting at all. When I saw his tatty shoes, I knew that these trainers were in fact his. I took them off and gave them to him. He was absolutely stunned.

He began to tell me that he knows there is a God and that he had died and he had seen a vision in which God had shown him his life, it was like it was in a scales balance. His works (of love) were being balanced against his other works. The bible says absolutely clearly that EVERYONE goes through a judgement. That is what he was seeing.

I was able to explain to him that the judgement will be severe and harsh and that I don’t know who would be able to get through. But if he wanted to be assured of salvattion, that people who believe in Jesus do not go through the judgement. That’s what the bible says.

Love

He has been reading the bible and he is searching. I told him where I had been in my life and I shared my possesions with him, just as the bible teaches us to do. I thought about Jesus words:

Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and lodged Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.

Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?

And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me. – Matthew 25:34-40

It was when I gave him my shoes that he opened up to talk to me of his faith and his experience of God. Love works! Jesus was right! I know Ben will come through, God has His eye on him. God is working to redeem him.

The refiners fire

This process that Ben is going through is the same refininig fire I went through. I saw a preacher on tv this morning talking about the fire. When we are in the fire we get to see our own character, our choices, our morals. Ben has such a good heart, in the refiners fire where he is, I see a tremendous person. I told him so. He loves to play and write music and I wouldn’t at all be surprised to one day see a Christian music CD written by Ben about God’s love in his life.

I went home and today I feel like a million $.

You can never have too many Picasa collages

This is from 2005 in Italy. Can you tell from my smile?