Do you have a glory story?

 

As I was reading a book by one of my favourite authors recently, I came across a phrase that keeps coming to my mind over and over. Glory story.

Not really self-explanatory and a little confusing, that is, until you realise what it’s all about.

For those of you who read my blog regularly, firstly, thank you. I am so blessed that God chooses to use me to be a source of encouragement to others. Secondly, you’ll know, through what I’ve shared, that six years ago, I was a different person than I am today.

For 6 months I fought an internal battle. An unexplained battle with depression, anxiety and panic attacks that literally took my breath away, threatening to take me out completely. It had made itself at home and nothing I could do seemed to shake it. Everything I tried failed.

But while I was being pounded by waves of fear, while I struggled through days where I didn’t want to get out of bed, while I neglected friendships and often tried to put on a brave face hoping others wouldn’t notice, God was working. God was weaving threads of strength through my pain.

God was writing my glory story.

I began to feel as Job did when he said this.

Job 42:5 KJV - I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

Through my trial, I began to really see God. To learn of his ways. To understand the depth of his character and I began to get a greater sense of awe for his power and might. I began to really get to know God.

And as I gained strength day by day, I began to beg God, “Don’t let it be for nothing, God. Use me. Redeem it. And turn my trial into a glory story. Use my glory story to benefit someone else.”

Just as the underside of a tapestry is all knots and imperfections, so that the top can be intricately beautiful to behold, I realised God was, in his love, weaving some hard lessons through troubles so that I could become something more lovely. Something that showed the glory of God.

I determined that when, and not if, when I got through it, I would give him the glory. Not the medication, not the worship songs, not the counsel of friends, although they were a great comfort to my soul, but God. God would get the glory.

He was writing my glory story, and I wanted to make sure I shared it.

I began to realise that perhaps God was writing a glory story in my life for someone else’s benefit. And he had chosen me to go through the pain in order that someone else would be blessed, helped and encouraged by the experience and the lessons I had learned in my time of trial.

Even tonight, as I sit here writing this, tears come to my eyes as I marvel at God’s goodness to me. I cry tears of joy and happiness. I am so overwhelmed by the love of God and the fact that he chose me to not only go through something painful so that I could be a comfort to others, but also that he chose to do a purifying work in my heart and life, to make me more like him.

At the time it felt like a cruel cross that I had to bear. But God used it to purify me and help draw me closer to him. He developed in me a love for him and his Word. He gave me a hunger and thirst for the Words of Scripture and a desire to study and grow in my relationship with him.

He helped me to see the needs of others with a heart of compassion. He began to stir my heart to be sensitive to those around me and reach out and love others that needed a friend. He brought a peace to my heart that I had never known and a peace that could be a testimony to others of God’s goodness.

Are you struggling through something today? Are you inundated with trials, and you feel like they will never end? Could it be that God has plans to use you to help someone else?

As I get older, I am finding more and more that the pain in my life and the struggles I’ve been through have made me more effective in ministering to others.

When I speak of trusting God fully, it sounds trite, until I share some of the ways I have had to trust him in the shake ups in my life.

When I speak of God’s joy, it doesn’t sound convincing until I share some of the depths I’ve been to, and the lengths God has gone to pull me up and put a smile on my face because of who he is.

When I speak of a peace that passes understanding, people don’t relate until I share my pain of depression and how God brought peace to my soul through his Word.

The more I experience suffering, the more access I seem to have to others in need. The more I am able to empathize, come alongside and say, “I know how you feel. I’ve been there. And I can tell you how to get back up.”

God has used trials and troubles to mold me in ways that nothing else could.

I would be doing you an injustice if I didn’t share this passage of scripture right here.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 KJV - Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

When I was going through my darkest time, I had to accept God’s comfort. I had to let him work in my life, ministering to me so that I could then minister to others and pass that comfort on to someone else. Then, and only then, could God get his glory story.

It really is up to us whether or not God will get the glory. We can choose to dissolve into a heap in a grand pity party or we can choose to turn it into a glory story. It’s our choice.

Can I encourage you to not let your trial be for nothing. Let God use it. Let him turn it into something beautiful. Don’t let others see the knots and imperfections, the discontent and grumblings. Let them see something beautiful. Recite God’s goodness often. Tell others regularly of what God is doing in your life. Share with them the messes God has made clean.

As you get into the practice of telling others of God’s goodness in spite of the trials you face, you are revising and updating your glory story, and it becomes your testimony. Your testimony of God’s might and power, love and grace.

I love the promise that David sings in Psalm 30 verse 5 ……weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

I claim this as a promise that although the night is dark and sometimes lingers for a long while, the morning eventually comes, the sun rises, the clouds roll away, the skies clear and joy comes! The desert of suffering is not forever.

David knew, that although he faced and would face many difficulties in life, they would each eventually come to an end. Joy would come in the morning. He kept his focus on Christ and what he knew of him.

He was then able to say, “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.” Psalm 30:11-12

Let God turn your mourning into dancing and let him clothe you with gladness. Give him all the glory and praise and don’t be silent about it.

You never know what sharing your glory story might do for someone else.

You might have to go through the fire, in order know how to pull someone else out.

Let God use you.

Let him write your glory story.

 

 

 

 

Don’t surrender your worship

 

Don’t surrender your worship. What do I even mean by this statement?

There are a lot of confusing and difficult things going on in our world today, and there are a lot of hard things happening closer to home at this present moment.

Life is never void of trials and trouble. We are reminded of this in John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

In a sermon I listened to yesterday, I heard the story once again of the three Hebrew boys who made a stand against an egotistical King and chose to worship God. (Daniel 3)

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is such an amazing display of God’s almighty power, but it also shines the spotlight on three boys who refused to surrender their worship.

Before I get to that, let me just take a moment to speak about the choice they made when it came to their focus.

When these boys made the decision to disobey the King’s decree and refused to bow down to his golden image, their focus wasn’t on the fiery furnace. Their focus was on God.

How often do we find ourselves focusing on the trials in our lives? How often do we zero in on the circumstances we find ourselves in? How often do we speak of the giant instead of speaking of our God?

Do you remember the story of David and his face off with a giant? Read it for yourself and you’ll find that David himself never acknowledged how big Goliath was, he only ever acknowledged how big his God was! (1 Samuel 17)     (Talk faith not fear)

He didn’t talk about how dangerous or how large or how impressive, threatening or scary Goliath was? He only talked about how great his God was.

He knew the truth that his God, our God, is able to deliver us!

Yes, life gets hard. The unexpected happens.

We have a choice to make. We can’t choose what battles we face. We can’t choose the trials we go through, but we can choose what we focus on!

Both David and the Hebrew boys didn’t keep their focus on the mountain. They chose to focus on the one who spoke the mountain into existence. God.

Now, let’s come back to my opening statement.

Don’t surrender your worship!

In the story of King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, the three Hebrew boys refused to surrender their worship.

When it came to a choice between God or the King, they chose God. They chose to believe and worship.

Daniel 3:16-18 KJV - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego took their focus off the fiery furnace (mountain) and looked to God. They decided to worship before the miracle even took place and even more astounding, they didn’t even know if a miracle would take place.

They didn’t have a rock-solid guarantee that God would choose to rescue them from danger, but they knew that their worship of him and their trust in him was paramount.

These verses tell us that they were so sure of their God that even if he chose to let them perish in the fire, they would still worship. They would go down worshipping. They would go down singing his praises.

They would not surrender their worship!

Sometimes, as Christians, we worship because we see a miracle. God works, we witness a miracle, we see the circumstances change and we rise up in worship.

But it takes a lot more courage to worship before we see the miracle. It takes strength to sit in the midst of a trial and choose to worship through it.

For those of you who know me and my story, you may be tired of hearing it, but I will never stop telling it. It is my glory story.  (Do you have a glory story)

For those who don’t, here is a very brief mention of it so I can drive home my point.

A few years back I faced a giant. For 6 long months I fought an internal battle. An unexplained battle with depression, anxiety and panic attacks that literally took my breath away, threatening to take me out completely. It had made itself at home and nothing I could do seemed to shake it.

But while I was being pounded by waves of fear, while I struggled through days where I didn’t want to get out of bed, while I neglected friendships and often tried to put on a brave face hoping others wouldn’t notice, God was working. God was weaving threads of strength through my pain.

As I battled along, I made the choice to worship. I chose to worship through it. I chose to worship before I saw a miracle. I tell this not to bring any glory to myself, but to hold the Lord’s name high.

My first timid attempt at worship was through music. I listened over and over to worship songs that spoke peace to my heart. As the days went by, my lips mouthed the words and then those words made their way down into my heart and my spirits began to lift. Then I read through promise after promise in the Word of God and my worship spilled over into reading aloud and letting God’s love and goodness wash over me.

Long story short, God in his mercy and grace pulled me up out of a dark pit and set my feet upon a rock and helped me to walk again. (Psalm 40:2)

When the three Hebrew boys chose to worship God through their trial, and when they chose to focus on God’s power, you’d better believe that it changed them!

I am absolutely positive that they came out of that fire with a fire burning inside them that was all to do with God and nothing to do with hot flames. It changed them.

And I want to encourage you if you’re walking through something right now, your choice to worship will not only change you, it will help to change others.

YOUR FIGHT ISN’T JUST ABOUT YOU!

You never know who’s watching. You never know who you will affect by your worship.

Do you remember what happened after the King called the boys out of the fire, having seen 4 men walking in the fire? He was changed.

Daniel 3:28-29 KJV - Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged not only the existence of God but also the Almighty, power of God.

When you choose to worship through a trial, with no idea how it will turn out, not only is it pleasing to God, but it is encouraging to those looking on.

You can encourage someone else’s faith. You can encourage another brother or sister who is faltering, to stay strong, to keep trusting, keep worshipping, keep believing.

Sometimes our faith is weak, and we have to borrow some off a friend. Sometimes we need to borrow some strength to be able to stand stronger. As we see another brother or sister standing strong and choosing to worship although they are facing an ‘even if’ situation, it gives our faith a lift and encourages us to keep in the race and persevere.

My story, your story, may be just what someone needs to see and hear to give them the courage to keep on.

When someone realises that they are not alone, and others have faced similar situations and God has brought them through, it gives them the strength they need to make it through and Lord willing, they will choose to refuse to surrender their worship.

God is worthy of all our worship and all our praise. Our stubborn refusal of surrendering our worship will be like a beacon to those looking on. A beacon of light. A beacon of hope.

1 Peter 3:15 KJV - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Focus on God, not your mountain. Be ready with an answer and a voice of truth and hope for those looking on.

 

Don’t surrender your worship.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not the rest of your story

 

Are you struggling today with the way your story is playing out? Are you discouraged because the script of your life is not at all what you had planned? Are you frustrated with the season of life you currently find yourself in?

Maybe you are facing illness. Or maybe it’s the loss of a friendship. Or a very busy season that just won’t let up and let you catch your breath. Are you riding a wave of emotions that range from sadness to hurt, to anger, to bitterness?

Can I encourage you today, that although today may be part of your story, it’s not the REST of your story.

Although what you’re facing today seems hard and you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, although you despair of change ever happening, God has a plan for you, and it is good.

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Just because the story we find ourselves in right now is not to our liking, doesn’t mean that it won’t change, and that God is not working behind the scenes.

God loves to work with broken things and the healing of broken people and broken lives are one of the ways God chooses to show us his glory and his greatness.

He loves to rewrite the script of our lives, and weave into it his love, his mercy, his faithfulness, so we will see him for who he is and worship and praise him, allowing him to have first place in our lives, realising that but for him, we are nothing and he alone can take our stories and make something beautiful of them.

God is the God of the impossible and no matter where we find ourselves, or what circumstance we are in the midst of, God knew about it from the beginning, and he is able to work it for our good if we are faithful and obedient to him.

Our stories are often messy and unpredictable, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, but don’t you think that the God who formed the universe with his voice, the God who catches our tears in a bottle, the God who knows about each sparrow that falls to the ground, don’t you think he can handle your life’s story? Don’t you think that he can change your story around and give you a different ending than you foresaw.

He is able to do amazing things and he can write into the script of your life, grace abounding, love overflowing, mercy unfathomable and unspeakable peace.

Ephesians 3:20-21a KJV - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory….

Trust God with your story. Let go of the pen. Don’t try and change it or rewrite it. Submit the writing to him and let him add in the plot twists and the joy and laughter, the hurt and tears.

God, the author of the precious Word of God we so casually hold in our hands, the Book of all Books, the greatest piece of literature ever written, inspired by God Almighty, penned by men of God, passed down through the ages, never able to be destroyed, the most beautiful love letter ever written, God can be trusted to write your story. He knows what he’s doing.

Stop fighting with the pen, stop tearing the pages out, stop adding pages in, stop changing the fonts, stop messing with the pauses, the commas, the chapter divisions.

Let God take full control and rest assured that your story is in his hands. God is not finished.

 

Today is part of your story, but it is NOT the rest of your story!

 

 

It doesn’t have to make sense 

for God to make it work

 

Have you ever stopped to think about all the things in the Bible that just don’t make sense?

Did you know that it’s okay if things don’t make sense? Do you realize that God can make things work even though we have no clue how?

Let me give you a few examples in explanation.

We read in 1 Samuel 17 the story of David and Goliath. It’s a very well-known story, and for good reason. God took a good-looking teenager, a keeper of sheep, from a family of strong men, men of valour, and used him to defeat a giant!

And not just any giant. Look at what the Bible says about him.

1 Samuel 17:4-7 KJV - And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

Now, we all know the all too familiar story, how that David refused Saul’s ill-fitting armour in favour of 5 small stones and a sling. It didn’t make sense!

1 Samuel 17:45-46 KJV - Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

Not only did his choice of weapon not make sense, but neither did his taunting words to this beast of a man, Goliath.

Here was a teenager, not yet fully muscled out like his older brothers, with no past experience at warfare, and yet he boldly told the Philistine that he would kill him and chop off his head! All with a few small stones, a sling and the use of the giant’s sword to finish off the deed!

None of this story makes sense. But God didn’t need it to make sense, in order to get the glory.

Did you see what David told Goliath? “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” He made sure that everyone would know that it was God who was to get the glory from this amazing victory.

Nothing in that story made sense. His age. His ability. His weapon. But God didn’t need it to make sense to make it work!

How about the story of the fall of Jericho? God told the people to walk around the city a bunch of times, blow some trumpets and shout real loud and then CRASH! Down came the walls and the city was defeated.

Can you imagine the thoughts going through Joshua’s head when the Lord told him his instructions? Yeah. It didn’t make any sense at all!

And I’m sure the people of Jericho looking on for those seven days, watching over the walls as the people marched around, just scratched their heads in disbelief and thought to themselves, “this doesn’t make any sense!”.

And yet it did. God had it all figured out. And once again, victory was had, and God got the glory.

And what about the miraculous story of a little boy’s lunch feeding a huge crowd of tired, hungry people? When the five loaves and two fish were brought to Jesus, and he told the disciples to sit the people down in an orderly fashion, it made no sense that so little could feed so many.

It didn’t make sense to them. But it did to God.

Or what about the time when God used an army of 300 men, armed with only a ceramic jar, a flaming torch and a trumpet, to defeat a great army of possibly over 100 000 men?

Talk about not making any sense. There was nothing special or warlike about a piece of baked clay, fire on a stick and the horn of a ram to blow into. But God used something simple to do something great!

All this to say, it doesn’t need to make sense for God to make it work!

What God tells us to do seldom makes sense, and yet he can and will work through it all in order that he will get the glory and people will know his name and know of his power and might and goodness to his people.

Has God ever called you to something that made no sense?

Has God ever given you a dream, a passion, a goal that was so far from human comprehension and so nonsensical that you despaired of it working?

It was once said, “God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.”

There is a lot of truth in that statement.

We come to him with empty hands. Fearful. Timid. Lacking talent and ability, and yet, he puts in our hands just what we need to fulfil the task and the ability to accomplish it.

If God has called you to it, he will equip you for it.

It doesn’t need to make sense.

It just needs faith. It needs trust. It needs the right motives. A humble attitude. A heart that wants God’s glory to shine above all else.  

What is it that God has put on your heart that you are hesitant about, because with your human reasoning, you can’t see the sense of it?

Are you standing there with empty hands, a calling on your life and doubt in your heart?

Is what God is asking you to do not making any sense?

Sometimes all it takes is the courage to take that first step, just as the priests had to do in the crossing of the Jordan river.

Joshua 3:15-16 KJV - And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

They had to have the courage to take that first step. That first faltering step into the swollen, intimidating, rushing river.

It didn’t make sense to simply march into a river. Men, women, children, animals all marching into a river, seemingly a death march, but no! A victory march! God controlled the water, and he made a way where there was no way.

Sometimes we can go for months or even years with things not making sense. We look around and we don’t see the point. We are unable to see the big picture. We can’t see the shoreline for the waves. We can’t see the sun for the clouds. We can’t see the lighthouse for the storm.

But God, in all his wisdom, calls us to trust him. He doesn’t ask us to try and make sense of it. He doesn’t ask us to understand his mysterious ways. He doesn’t need us to work it all out before we step out. He calls us to trust. He calls us to rest in him.

Psalm 37:5 KJV - Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV - Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV - (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

God can do great things with very little.

God can work miracles through impossible situations.

We don’t need to see his hand moving, we only need to sit still and trust his heart.

Isaiah 26:3-4 KJV - Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:

 

 

We climbed the height by the zigzag path

 And wondered why—until

 We understood it was made zigzag

 To break the force of the hill.

A road straight up would prove too steep

 For the traveller’s feet to tread;

 The thought was kind in its wise design

Of a zigzag path instead.

It is often so in our daily life;

 We fail to understand

 That the twisting way our feet must tread

By love alone was planned.

Then murmur not at the winding way,

 It is our Father’s will

To lead us Home by the zigzag path

To break the force of the hill.

ANON.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t be a pen snatcher!

 

Don’t be a pen snatcher. I’ve been thinking about this today. If you’re confused, then that’s okay. Stay with me. I don’t have anything profound to share but I pray that you will be encouraged with what God has been working on me about.

In previous posts, I’ve talked about how God writes the script of our lives and how all too often, we are discontent with the story’s plot.

Sometimes in life, circumstances happen that throw our plans into disarray. We hit a bump in the road that sends us off the course we had planned. Unexpected things happen and before we know it, we wake up one day, realizing that this is not the life we planned and not the life we wanted. This is not the script we wanted written.

We had a totally different picture in mind. The picture of what we thought life would look like is vastly different than the reality.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately with the trials our daughter has been facing and the unfathomable plot twists in her story.

The script of her life is definitely not playing out the way she expected and it’s not how we, as her parents, expected either. No one could have foreseen what she has had to go through these past few years. No one but God, that is.

Are you struggling today with the way your story is playing out? Are you discouraged because the script of your life is not at all what you had planned? Are you frustrated with the season of life you currently find yourself in?

Maybe you are facing illness. Or maybe it’s the loss of a friendship. Or a very busy season that just won’t let up and let you catch your breath. Are you riding a wave of emotions that range from sadness to hurt, to anger, to bitterness?

Can I encourage you today to refrain from snatching the pen!

This is something I find myself doing all too regularly. I find myself dissatisfied with the story God is writing and so I try and wrest the pen from his grasp, feeling sure that I can write better than he can. Surely, I can change the story to suit me. Surely, I can write a better ending.

But I can’t. And spoiler alert, you can’t either.

God has all wisdom and all power and all knowledge. He knows the beginning from the end. He knows the future and so he is more than capable at holding the pen and writing our stories.

Our stories are often messy and unpredictable, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, but don’t you think that the God who formed the universe with his voice, the God who catches our tears in a bottle, the God who knows about each sparrow that falls to the ground, don’t you think he can handle your life’s story?

Not only is he able to go above and beyond what we ask, we are promised that he will do exceeding more than what we even think! What a beautiful promise.  

Ephesians 3:20-21a KJV - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory….

I want to remind you that although you can’t choose the life circumstances you go through, you can choose HOW you go through them.

Your peace, your joy, and your contentment are dependent on the choices you make.

If you’re struggling today with the circumstances you find yourself in, if you find yourself fighting against God as you try to snatch away the pen, if you feel as though you’ve reached the end of your rope, then don’t despair.

There is a simple remedy. LET GO OF THE PEN!

Stop fighting with the pen, stop tearing the pages out, stop adding pages in, stop changing the fonts, stop messing with the pauses, the commas, the chapter divisions.

Trust God with your story. Let go of the pen. Don’t try to change or rewrite it. Submit the writing to him and let him add in the plot twists and the joy and laughter, the hurt and tears.

God, the author of the precious Word of God we so casually hold in our hands, the Book of all Books, the greatest piece of literature ever written, inspired by God Almighty, penned by men of God, passed down through the ages, never able to be destroyed, the most beautiful love letter ever written, that same God can be trusted to write your story.

Let God take full control and rest assured that your story is in his hands.

He is the only one fully qualified to write the script of your life. Because of who he is, he is the only one that can write the story of your life and it be complete and according to his perfect will.

Just because the story we find ourselves in right now is not to our liking, doesn’t mean God is not working behind the scenes.

God loves to write the script of our lives and weave into it his love, his mercy, his compassion and faithfulness so that we will see him for who he is and it will drive us to worship and praise as we allow him to have first place in our lives, realising that but for him, we are nothing, and he alone is able to take our stories and make something beautiful of them.

He really is the best author there is. No matter what life looks like for you right now, God knows about it. He is writing your story. He knows the end of the story, and so he knows exactly what needs to be written in order to finish the book.

Don’t be a pen snatcher! Let go!

Trust in him. Delight yourself in him. Commit your way unto him. Rest in him. (Psalm 37)

Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV - Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

 

 

 

 

Christmas 2019

Re post

Yes, another year has almost come to an end and I find myself reflecting. What have I done with the time God gave me? What have I done with another year of opportunity? Did I waste it in pleasing self or did I use every moment in reaching out to a lost and dying world with the glorious message of salvation?

Sobering thoughts. When I stop and think about the 8760 hours I had to serve Him, how many of those hours were actually spent in service to Him.

At this time of year, more than any other time, we have the opportunity to share with others the real meaning of the season. As the world's focus is on buying gifts and eating, drinking and being merry, our focus should be on reaching out and telling others about the miracle of Jesus birth.

This time of year becomes so busy that we can't see Christ for Christmas. It's easy to get caught up in the swirl of activity and the buying buying buying. We hear the carols playing in every store, over loud speakers down the main street, hip hopped versions blared loudly as we do our grocery shopping. But does the world know the true meaning of “Away in a Manger” or “Joy to the World”?  And if they don't, is it our fault?

Is it our fault we pass people in the street and give them the customary, “Merry Christmas” instead of sharing with them the beautiful story of Jesus Christ coming to this earth to be born in a stable, humble and lowly, so that He could die for our sins?

Yes, too often I am guilty of just trying to ignore this whole time of year and wait impatiently for it all to be over. The hustle, the bustle, the frustrations of the busyness and the short attitudes that go along with it. Too often, I pass people in the shop, busy choosing that perfect gift for a loved one, filling their trolley with Christmas wrap, tinsel, lights, bon bons, without even a thought of saying something that might help to bring them to consider their eternal destiny.

Not everyone celebrates Christmas in the same way. And yes, some are quick to judge when others do things differently. But, whether you give gifts or you don't, the story of Christ's birth is still the same. The fact that God chose to send His only Son down to earth, to be born of a virgin, so that we might have eternal life, is still amazing! And the story hasn't changed.

We dash around madly, making sure the dining room is decked in splendour, while somewhere in the foggy recesses of our minds, we vaguely remember a dusty, dirty, smelly stable, where our Saviour was laid in a manger and the angels rejoiced.

Luke 2:13-14

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the

heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest,

 and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Sometimes, in our efforts to witness at this time of year, we are guilty of only telling part of the story. Yes, the season is about Christ's birth, but it also brings us to the more sobering thought of His death. As the song so aptly puts it,

“Born to die upon Calv'ry, Jesus suffered my sin to forgive.
Born to die upon Calv'ry, He was wounded that I might live”

Jesus wasn't just born and that was the end of it. That's not the end of the story. He was sent down to earth to die on the cross for our sins. He was born to die. The reason for His humble birth was so that He could save us from eternal damnation.

This past year has been a year of opportunity for me. The Lord has brought so many opportunities into my life to serve Him and yet I have failed many times to grab hold of them with both hands, and ask for God's strength to enable me to use these times wisely and help to make an eternal difference in someone's life. We know that it is God that does the work and He doesn't need our help, but He chooses to use us, as imperfect people, to spread the Word and be a light in a dark world.

This time of year, can be very dark, metaphorically speaking. A world blinded by consumerism and materialism and everything it can offer.  All the more reason to shine our light and shine it brightly!

We can hold our Christmas services and enjoy our festive luncheons, but if we are not out there, being a witness to the lost, telling the whole story, and testifying of God's goodness in our lives on a daily basis, we might as well stay home.

The story of a babe in a manger is easy on the ears and easy to tell, but to tell of a Saviour, suffering and bleeding on an old wooden cross for our sins, in our place, is a whole lot harder.

The shadow of the cross hung over the manger on the day of Christ's birth. It was there, that shadow, right from the very beginning. God knew what He was doing, and He was willing to give His only Son to die for us.

THIS is the real story. THIS is the story the world needs to hear. Not only the story of His miraculous birth, but the story of His sacrificial death, His burial and His resurrection.

PRAISE GOD! We serve a risen Saviour!

What Do You Have In Your Hand?

  "God is not looking for great ability, he's looking for availability" 

I’ve been contemplating this thought for a couple of weeks now, and as I’ve spent time thinking about it over and over, the more impressed I felt to write about it.

What do you have in your hand? What is it that you have that God could use?

I don’t always know who takes the time to read this blog, but I know, that somewhere out there, someone needs to hear this. Someone out there is feeling that their little is not enough.

Do you ever feel this way? Do you ever feel that you don’t have any talents or abilities that God can use?

Do you ever want to do great things for God, but you look at yourself and you just don’t see any potential or talent that God could use? Do you go through your meagre list of abilities and think that they are of no use to God?

Maybe you look around at other people and despair that you can’t sing, or play an instrument, or teach or preach or cook like them.

So often, we feel that we need extraordinary abilities in order to do God’s work. But we don’t! We just need to be available. God can put the EXTRA in the ordinary!

God is not looking for great ability, he just wants us to use what he has already given us. He wants to use what is already in our hand.

Can I draw your attention to a well-known story in the Bible? The story of Moses and the very plain, possibly ugly looking stick that he held in his hand.

Exodus 4:2-4, 12 - And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: ...

All Moses had was a rod. A stick. Does that sound like great ministry material to you? No. But it was what was in his hand and God wanted to show Moses how he could use what Moses thought was nothing, and turn it into something amazing.

What we see as nothing, is something to God. There was nothing significant about the stick Moses was holding. It was just a stick. But it was what Moses had in his hand, and when God got inside that stick, miracles began to happen.

God used Moses in a mighty way because, despite all his excuses at the beginning, he was willing to give God what he had and watch what God would do!

If that doesn’t resonate with you, then how about the story of David and Goliath? What did David have in his hand? A sling and 5 small stones. But when he gave them to God and let God use them, a mighty defeat of the Philistine army occurred.

1 Samuel 17:40, 49 KJV - And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. ...

And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

What about the widow of Zarapheth? We read of a widow woman with only a little flour and oil in her hand and God chose to take what she willingly offered and work a miracle.

1 Kings 17:12, 15 KJV - And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. ...

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

And of course, I can’t think about this topic without remembering the little boy with the 5 loaves and 2 fish.

John 6:9 KJV - There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

Mark 6:41-43 KJV - And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.

All that the little boy had in his hand, he gave to the disciples and when they placed the 5 loaves and 2 fish in the Lord’s hands, everything changed! When we are willing to give God what we have in our hand, miracles can happen!

So that brings me to an important question. What are you doing with what you have in your hand? What gift has God given you that you can give back to him to use for his glory?

It’s not your ability, your knowledge, your talent or even the size of your gift, it is your willingness for God to use it. God’s power is so infinitely huge that although our gift may seem small, if we give it to God, he can increase it, enlarge it and blow our minds with what he can do.

We just need to be available. It’s not about our ability. It’s about our availability.

One of our biggest problems as believers, is the tendency we have to underestimate what we have. Now I don’t mean that we need to be proud and boastful of what we have in our hands, but we need to realise that we serve an amazing, miracle-working God and he can make something out of nothing.

What God can do with our 5 little loaves and 2 small fish is beyond our human comprehension.

Ephesians 3:20 - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us

If you love to write, then give it to God and let him use it for his glory. Write about what God is doing in your life and be an encouragement to those in your sphere of influence. If you have a voice that can sing, then sing praises to God and use your voice to bring glory to him. If you can cook, then use your talent for God. Show God’s love by being hospitable and serve others. If you have an ability to teach, then teach others about Christ and his ability to save the lost, heal the broken-hearted, lift up the fallen.

Give God what you already have in your hand and watch what he will do with it.

Often, we think we don’t possess anything that God can use, but we already have what God needs to do his work, we just need to be willing to give it to him.

If you don’t know what you have in your hand, then just ask. The Lord promises wisdom to those who ask.

James 1:5 -  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

If you take a good look inside your heart and dig up those dreams maybe you’ve pushed down deep inside, thinking they weren’t good enough, then it’s time for you to offer them to God and see what he chooses to do with them.

For years I had a desire to teach, to write and to speak, but I felt I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t have enough experience, I wasn’t old and mature enough, I didn’t have the opportunities offered me. Well, as sure as I am that some of that was true, when I gave my dreams and desires to God, he opened a door and made a way for me to use what was in my hand the whole time. I just hadn’t opened my hand and raised it up to him to see what he would do.

What I needed to serve him was there all along. It just needed God’s touch. His blessing. His approval. And most of all, my willingness to let him use it however he saw fit.

The devil loves to feed you lies about your abilities. He wants you to think that you have nothing to offer. He doesn’t want you to submit to God. He wants you to feel useless for God’s work. Don’t listen to him. He’s a liar and the father of lies.

So, quit making excuses. Open your hand. Give it to God. Whatever it may be. However small it may be. Ask him to show you what he wants you to do.

The world wants us to follow the “You are enough” philosophy. But, SPOILER ALERT! You are NOT enough. I don’t want to discourage you, but only God is enough! Without him, we are nothing! And when we give him our all, then he can work with our little and we can become enough. We can become a vessel that he can use.

Availability is the key!

When you give God what is in your hand, he will surprise you! When we give our little to God, everything changes. He is able to use us like we never imagined he could.

Give God what is in your hand. Don’t hold back. 

Even if it’s small, give him your all!