For many years my parents ran a historic guesthouse, and although they shifted a few years ago, they still own it. The people we got in to run it shifted out about a week ago, and in the interim between them leaving and the next people taking over, they have been caleld back to run it. I have volunteered to do both today and tomorrow.
Today has been really nice. Coming home, in a way, to this house I grew up in. There are of course many differences to the way I remember it, the most prominent probably being that everything seems so much smaller now.
But, its still my home, and I love it.
Thats how it is with God, really. Although we may choose to have nothing to do with Him, and even though we leave Him and go off into the world, we can still come back to Him years later and find a comforting sensation of Home.
The thing is, this world is no longer as perfect as it was. Coming back here has meant restoring things that have been run down, making things new. Pets have died, or grown old, trees have fallen, history has been lost...
...but when we come back to God we will find constancy. The Bible says "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever", and its so true. Whenever I'm feeling lost, or afraid, or whatever, I can turn to God and He will be my strength.
I hope that you can find this strength too.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Thursday, September 09, 2004
God is speaking, are you listening?
My last post talked about whether God speaks to you or not.
I believe that God does speak to us all the time, but sometimes we either aren’t listening, or we mishear what He is saying.
If you want to develop a good friendship with someone, it is important to spend time with them, to listen to them when they speak, and to talk back to them. All of these things help relationships to grow, rather than fizzle our and die.
The more time you spend with someone, the more you will remember what they look like, what they sound like, their general mannerisms…
It’s the same with God. The more time you spend with Him, either in prayer, or reading His words to us (the Bible) or in worship, or even just sitting quietly with Him, the more you will be able to discern what He is saying, how He is saying it…
I have been through a tough patch recently with God, where I wasn’t following Him as closely as I should have, and as a result, I had been forgetting what He sounded like, and couldn’t hear Him anymore.
Now that, with help from trusted friends, I am managing to come out of that patch, I have found God has started speaking in ways I can hear Him again.
Two days ago, God gave me a vision of a new project to try and focus on within the church I attend. I work there as an intern, and have been searching for something to work towards. Now that I am in the right place to hear from God again, I have been being spoken to, and I am so thankful.
Like I said last time, it doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in God, or are following Him closely, He can still speak into your life, or affect it in other ways, but it is a lot easier to hear Him when you are in a good relationship with Him.
That is one advantage ‘True’ Christians have, that other people may lack.
If you want to ask any questions for me to write a post about, just put a comment here and I will see what I can do.
I believe that God does speak to us all the time, but sometimes we either aren’t listening, or we mishear what He is saying.
If you want to develop a good friendship with someone, it is important to spend time with them, to listen to them when they speak, and to talk back to them. All of these things help relationships to grow, rather than fizzle our and die.
The more time you spend with someone, the more you will remember what they look like, what they sound like, their general mannerisms…
It’s the same with God. The more time you spend with Him, either in prayer, or reading His words to us (the Bible) or in worship, or even just sitting quietly with Him, the more you will be able to discern what He is saying, how He is saying it…
I have been through a tough patch recently with God, where I wasn’t following Him as closely as I should have, and as a result, I had been forgetting what He sounded like, and couldn’t hear Him anymore.
Now that, with help from trusted friends, I am managing to come out of that patch, I have found God has started speaking in ways I can hear Him again.
Two days ago, God gave me a vision of a new project to try and focus on within the church I attend. I work there as an intern, and have been searching for something to work towards. Now that I am in the right place to hear from God again, I have been being spoken to, and I am so thankful.
Like I said last time, it doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in God, or are following Him closely, He can still speak into your life, or affect it in other ways, but it is a lot easier to hear Him when you are in a good relationship with Him.
That is one advantage ‘True’ Christians have, that other people may lack.
If you want to ask any questions for me to write a post about, just put a comment here and I will see what I can do.
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Words: Comments, Prophets, Rainy School Days, and a Dare
Yay, someone left a comment for me! How fun! That means at least one person has been reading what I’ve been writing, and has taken the time to write back.
Its always good when people take time out of their lives to speak into the lives of others, especially if God uses them to speak the right words at the right times. One of the things that has shown how real God is to me, is His use of prophecy and prophetic words at just the right time.
In our church, we have a few real ‘prophets’. This doesn’t mean they dress up in long, flowing robes and carry a staff with them that they turn into snakes whenever they are threatened, or that they eat wild locusts and honey, but it does mean that God reveals things to them, which they can share with others.
One prophet whom I have great respect for is a man named Glenn. He is a really neat, friendly guy, and gets amazing words just when they are needed. At one stage in my life, I had been searching for a purpose to aim for, and was struggling with the fact that I didn’t have any. After sharing a little at one of the night services at our church, Glenn and another prophetic guy, independently of each other, approached and gave me the same basic prophecy:
You are going to teach, preach, and evangelise.
Neat!
After that, God backed up that revelation by giving me a number of opportunities to do so in different areas to different audiences, and now I am training to be a full-time servant of God, by training through a Bible College course.
Its weird the way God speaks to some people.
I have a weird sense of humour (hopefully you have picked up on that already) and so for me God usually seems to speak in humorous ways. An example is one of the miracles He did in my life.
One April Fools morning, when I was still going to school, I had to go to the school early for a choir rehearsal (yep, I was in the choir!). Anyway, it was raining, and I was going to get wet, so I said “Oh well God. The rain is good. It helps things grow. If I’m going to get wet, thank you for the rain anyway.”
At that moment, God spoke into my head in a clear voice, clearer than He has most of the other times I have heard him. He spoke two words, two powerful words….
“April Fools.”
Then the rain stopped.
I have been able to use that story as part of my testimony many times, and no one can take that away from me – I know it happened!!! But still, its kind of weird.
God seems to speak to people in ways that fit to their personality. For me, it seems to be in funny ways, because I’m not actually a very serious person a lot of the time.
For you, He may speak in an entirely different way, but one thing is certain: God is speaking to you. You may not understand what He is saying, or how you hear His voice, but He is speaking. The trick is to learn how to hear God. This can be done by reading God’s Word (the Bible) and learning a bit of what it says, because God will never speak anything that is opposite to his Word, and just spending some time alone with God. Practise makes perfect.
Even if you’re not a Christian, this is something you could have a go with.
If you want to know whether or not God is real, as Him to reveal himself to you. Its simple. If He is real, He can reveal Himself and will, and if He is not, then there is no harm in asking. He may not reveal Himself through speaking, but He will reveal Himself somehow.
Give it a try.
Go on, I dare ya!
Its always good when people take time out of their lives to speak into the lives of others, especially if God uses them to speak the right words at the right times. One of the things that has shown how real God is to me, is His use of prophecy and prophetic words at just the right time.
In our church, we have a few real ‘prophets’. This doesn’t mean they dress up in long, flowing robes and carry a staff with them that they turn into snakes whenever they are threatened, or that they eat wild locusts and honey, but it does mean that God reveals things to them, which they can share with others.
One prophet whom I have great respect for is a man named Glenn. He is a really neat, friendly guy, and gets amazing words just when they are needed. At one stage in my life, I had been searching for a purpose to aim for, and was struggling with the fact that I didn’t have any. After sharing a little at one of the night services at our church, Glenn and another prophetic guy, independently of each other, approached and gave me the same basic prophecy:
You are going to teach, preach, and evangelise.
Neat!
After that, God backed up that revelation by giving me a number of opportunities to do so in different areas to different audiences, and now I am training to be a full-time servant of God, by training through a Bible College course.
Its weird the way God speaks to some people.
I have a weird sense of humour (hopefully you have picked up on that already) and so for me God usually seems to speak in humorous ways. An example is one of the miracles He did in my life.
One April Fools morning, when I was still going to school, I had to go to the school early for a choir rehearsal (yep, I was in the choir!). Anyway, it was raining, and I was going to get wet, so I said “Oh well God. The rain is good. It helps things grow. If I’m going to get wet, thank you for the rain anyway.”
At that moment, God spoke into my head in a clear voice, clearer than He has most of the other times I have heard him. He spoke two words, two powerful words….
“April Fools.”
Then the rain stopped.
I have been able to use that story as part of my testimony many times, and no one can take that away from me – I know it happened!!! But still, its kind of weird.
God seems to speak to people in ways that fit to their personality. For me, it seems to be in funny ways, because I’m not actually a very serious person a lot of the time.
For you, He may speak in an entirely different way, but one thing is certain: God is speaking to you. You may not understand what He is saying, or how you hear His voice, but He is speaking. The trick is to learn how to hear God. This can be done by reading God’s Word (the Bible) and learning a bit of what it says, because God will never speak anything that is opposite to his Word, and just spending some time alone with God. Practise makes perfect.
Even if you’re not a Christian, this is something you could have a go with.
If you want to know whether or not God is real, as Him to reveal himself to you. Its simple. If He is real, He can reveal Himself and will, and if He is not, then there is no harm in asking. He may not reveal Himself through speaking, but He will reveal Himself somehow.
Give it a try.
Go on, I dare ya!
Monday, September 06, 2004
Spookygirl and God
Christians witness in different ways. My mother is a 'confrontational evangelist' like Peter in the Bible. She has no trouble in telling people what they have done wrong and what they need to do to change. This is a very legitimate style of evangelism, but it's not mine.
I'm an 'intellectual evangelist' like Paul. This doesn't mean I am super-brainy... far from it... but I will reason with people and try an PROVE the existance of God, rather than just expect people to believe in him.
This has both good points and bad points.
As far as good points go, I can build a foundation to build faith on. If I could show you that God needs to exist, it will be a lot easier for you to believe in Him.
Bad points, though, include the fact that I don't see a lot of people come to God - in fact, I don't know of any so far. So, I've started trying to reason with Spookygirl today.
Hmmm...
It doesn't seem to be going very well so far. I think she has been drunk-slash-drugged for a long time, and doesn't seem to be able to reason very well. Our conversation went something like this....
L: So, do you believe in God?
S: Dunno, kind of yes and no.
L: What do you mean?
S: My parents told me not to...
L: But what do you believe in?
S: Everything.
L: Where did life come from?
S: My parents.
L: ...
I didn't get a lot further than that. I tried to ask about God and origins of life a few more times, but she is too vague in her beliefs to learn more about what is right and wrong with them. Its kind of frustrating.
I think for Spookygirl, God is going to have to give me a new evangelism style... perhaps a 'sledgehammer of truth' to drive some sense into her mind.
Sigh.
I'm an 'intellectual evangelist' like Paul. This doesn't mean I am super-brainy... far from it... but I will reason with people and try an PROVE the existance of God, rather than just expect people to believe in him.
This has both good points and bad points.
As far as good points go, I can build a foundation to build faith on. If I could show you that God needs to exist, it will be a lot easier for you to believe in Him.
Bad points, though, include the fact that I don't see a lot of people come to God - in fact, I don't know of any so far. So, I've started trying to reason with Spookygirl today.
Hmmm...
It doesn't seem to be going very well so far. I think she has been drunk-slash-drugged for a long time, and doesn't seem to be able to reason very well. Our conversation went something like this....
L: So, do you believe in God?
S: Dunno, kind of yes and no.
L: What do you mean?
S: My parents told me not to...
L: But what do you believe in?
S: Everything.
L: Where did life come from?
S: My parents.
L: ...
I didn't get a lot further than that. I tried to ask about God and origins of life a few more times, but she is too vague in her beliefs to learn more about what is right and wrong with them. Its kind of frustrating.
I think for Spookygirl, God is going to have to give me a new evangelism style... perhaps a 'sledgehammer of truth' to drive some sense into her mind.
Sigh.
The Continuing Tales of a Christian Guy and his Stalker
So, what do you do when you are constantly being called by some random spooky girl?!
I've been struggling with Spookygirl* for a week or so now. Its really scary. She has been calling me and txting me all times of the day and night, and talking about random nothings... she has even been drunk a few times when she has called. (*Not her real name)
I'm not handling it as well as I could, I guess. In all honesty I should say "Please stop calling me, you're freaking me out and I would prefer you to do something better with your time than waste it on me, because I'm not interested in you, my plans for the future do not include you, and I want to just get on with my life."
That would probably be the best thing for me, but it would not be the best thing for her. She knows I'm a Christian (in fact, she knows WAY too much about me!) and as far as it is scary and disturbing, I may be the only link with heaven she gets. I don't want to waste it.
On the other hand, so far I have just been listening to her random conversations and talking to her about them etc... so I'm kind of wasting my opportunities anyway.
The Bible talks about the ideal of 'loving your enemies'. I know what God did NOT have in mind with that commandment (eg. Oh, my enemy, how I love you, shall we go for a moonlit stroll on the beach followed by a candlelight supper......) but what does that mean for me and Spookygirl??? She seems to think that she is in some relationship type thing with me (which she is NOT) and although I have told her that I am not interested in her in that way, she still persists.
Aaaagh!!!!
Oh well, I'll try and figure it out before she calls next, and I know she will....
I'll update you on the situation as soon as I figure more out.
Lark.
I've been struggling with Spookygirl* for a week or so now. Its really scary. She has been calling me and txting me all times of the day and night, and talking about random nothings... she has even been drunk a few times when she has called. (*Not her real name)
I'm not handling it as well as I could, I guess. In all honesty I should say "Please stop calling me, you're freaking me out and I would prefer you to do something better with your time than waste it on me, because I'm not interested in you, my plans for the future do not include you, and I want to just get on with my life."
That would probably be the best thing for me, but it would not be the best thing for her. She knows I'm a Christian (in fact, she knows WAY too much about me!) and as far as it is scary and disturbing, I may be the only link with heaven she gets. I don't want to waste it.
On the other hand, so far I have just been listening to her random conversations and talking to her about them etc... so I'm kind of wasting my opportunities anyway.
The Bible talks about the ideal of 'loving your enemies'. I know what God did NOT have in mind with that commandment (eg. Oh, my enemy, how I love you, shall we go for a moonlit stroll on the beach followed by a candlelight supper......) but what does that mean for me and Spookygirl??? She seems to think that she is in some relationship type thing with me (which she is NOT) and although I have told her that I am not interested in her in that way, she still persists.
Aaaagh!!!!
Oh well, I'll try and figure it out before she calls next, and I know she will....
I'll update you on the situation as soon as I figure more out.
Lark.
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